The department of telecom (DoT) or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) should be made third operator in each service area even if there were two licencees from the private sector, the sub group of the group on telecom (GoT) said in a discussion paper.

"Based on the immediate available frequency spectrum band, apart from the two private operators already licenced, DoT or MTNL would be third operator in each service area, in a time bound manner", the panel headed by K V Kamath, managing director of ICICI said.

Availability of adequate frequency spectrum was essential not only for providing optimal bandwidth to every operator but also for entry of additional operators, the paper said.

The cellular mobile service providers (CMSP) would be required to pay a one time entry fee. Thebasis for determining entry fee and basis for selection of additional operators would be recommended by TRAI.