India cannot attract the $50 to $70 billion foreign investment that could enter India's telecom sector till such time the government and regulatory authorities sort out issues such as uncertainty over licensing policies and the hike in foreign direct investment, said Asim Ghosh, managing director of Hutchison Essar.

"Bringing into the picture unnecessary issues such as unified licensing and lack of clarity on issues such as limited mobility are detracting foreign investors," Ghosh said in an informal chat with mediapersons after announcing the company's plans for Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.

With the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal judgement awaited next week on allowing mobility beyond the short distance charging area level, GSM operators will decide on how to counter CDMA players, he said.

Criticising Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd about misusing its multi-service provider status, Ghosh said that the corporation's unethical practices have resulted in losses for the monolith.

"BSNL's profits are likely to come down by 70 per cent this year because of the competition it is facing from all quarters. Its (BSNL's) initial growth in cellular subscriber numbers, till May 1 this year, was artificial because they grew at the cost of other GSM operators by offering free incoming calls," he said.

"Nowhere in the world would this have happened wherein an incumbent, with its multi-service provider status, was allowed to provide free incoming calls on cellular service because it was wiping out this loss in revenue with the income earned out of the fixed line charges and inter-connect charges," Ghosh said.

He also indicated that the merged entity between Hutch and Essar will have the common brand - Hutch in all the ten circles of Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East), Punjab and Gujarat.

It would retain the Orange brand in Mumbai. However, he refused to divulge specifics of the valuation of the merged entity, the shareholding pattern between the two partners etc.

The company plans to invest Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) countrywide in the current year on network expansion, information technology systems and value-added services.

Three mobile switching centres: Hutchison Essar South is planning to install three new mobile switching centres, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Chennai circles, to cater to the growing mobile subscriber base of the company. The company is yet to identify the locations for setting up the new switching centres.

A switching centre is the key element of a mobile network that carries calls, tracks the movement of subscribers from one part of the city to another or to another city or even overseas. Hutch currently has one centre each in the three circles.

"We have added over 40,000 subscribers last month in all the three circles put together and likely to add another 60,000 this month. In Andhra Pradesh alone, we are adding over 20,000 subscribers this month, Sandip Das, chief executive officer of Hutch Essar said.