Telecom Secretary, Siddharth Behura said that the new norms pertaining to mergers and acquisition were in no way detrimental to the entry of foreign players in the country.

The Secretary said in telecom domain, mergers and acquisitions of licences and of stake are two different aspects. He said the new M&A norms only pertain to merger of licences. He said new operators are allowed to sell stake to foreign players.

International operators who win in the bidding for 3G spectrum will have three options—they can acquire a unified access service licence (UASL) or acquire up to 74 per cent stake in an existing operator or merge their 3G licence with an existing 2G licensee,” said the Telecom Secretary.