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Cabinet nods to money laundering, forex management, derivative trading bills, telecom package

The Union Cabinet today approved bills relating to money laundering, foreign exchange management and derivatives trading for presentation to Parliament.

The Cabinet also approved the telecom package which brings cellular operators and basic service operators under the revenue sharing basis from the licence fee regime.

The National Telecom Policy finalised by the previous government allowed the migration of cellular phone operators to the NTP 1999 from the NTP 1994.

This package was challenged in a high court which declined to stay the proposals but ruled that the new government should ratify the package.

The NTP 1999 allows operators in cellular services in each service area the option of either accepting a package to bring in multipoly or remaining under the old regime based on licence fee.

The lock-in period prescribed was five years from the date of licence agreements, in respect of current shareholders and no share transfer was permitted during the period.

Release is to be permitted to licencees by extending the period of licencee by 10-20 years. The migration package also specified that the new telecom policy should be prospective and that its date should be decided by the government.

UNI

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