Kumar said that a limited reference for the migration of existing operators would be sent to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) early next week. He added that a separate reference on the new telecom policy, 1999, had already been sent to Trai for its views on the subject.

Kumar said that discussions will be initiated with telecom industry associations next week. On the schedule for implementation of the policy, he added that once the formal approval was received from the cabinet secretariat, the implementation of the package would be initiated.

Kumar said that everyoperator will have to enter into a fresh agreement with DoT under the terms and conditions of the revenue-sharing package. "The matter of fulfilling social obligations will be included while signing the agreements," he said, adding that this would be done via a supplementary agreement.

Kumar said that three private Internet service providers have applied for permission to set up gateways and hinted that the approvals would come through soon. Kumar indicated that DoT would soon launch cellular services in a phased manner. Seeking to mitigate the concerns of the private telecom industry, Kumar said that the entire process would be implemented without prejudice against any one."We will look into individual cases and strive to sort out all the operational problems," he added.