Mumbai, June 15: In what could lead to a major shakeup in the competitive telecom sector, the regulator is soon expected to ask the government for converting all licenses into "unified" one to enable any operator venture into any discipline. The recommendation for Unified License could be sent suo-motu by TRAI within 4-6 weeks as there is a mounting pressure from banks and financial institutions for some rescue package to ward off a collapse due to staggering losses being suffered by major segments of the industry.
The idea of a Unified License, which could enable any operator in a designated territory to offer mobile and fixed line services under a single banner, assumes importance in the wake of Communication Minister Arun Shourie advocating the need to move to a single license system.

Banks and FIs are increasingly petitioning the government expressing apprehensions about the vulnerability of their exposure to the telecom sector, financial sector sources said in Mumbai and Delhi.
Trai officials remained tight-lipped about the entire issue but confirmed that cellular operators were suffering severe losses despite tremendous growth in volume. Bureau Report