The Department of Telecommunications (‘DOT’) has, by way of Notification dated November 3, 2021, issued amendments to: (i) guidelines for grant of unified license (virtual network operator) agreement (‘ULA-VNO’); and (ii) guidelines for grant of unified license (‘UL’), for change in foreign direct investment (‘FDI’) norms in telecommunication sector.

It has been clarified that FDI up to 100% under automatic route is permitted in telecommunications sector. Further, at the time of applying for the aforementioned licenses, the applicant is required to bifurcate the foreign equity details into: (i) foreign equity from entities in land border sharing countries; and (ii) foreign equity from other countries  and  submit the approval received from Government of India if it has received foreign equity from an entity in a land border sharing country or if beneficial owner of the investment is situated in or is a citizen of any such country.