New Delhi: The empowered Group of Ministers (GOM) on Telecom on September 25 recommended a hike in the foreign investment in telecom sectors to 74 per cent from the present level of 49 per cent.

Briefing reporters after the meeting of the GoM, chaired by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, Communication Minister Arun Shourie said that they had decided to "hike foreign investment cap in telecom sector to 74 per cent".

However, the foreign direct investment in this would be limited to 49 per cent and the rest could come from foreign institutional investors, he said.

Describing it as a "major decision", Shourie said "we will take this to the Cabinet for approval."

The GoM also considered the contentious issue of limited mobile services versus cellular services.

It also discussed the report of Telecom Engineering Consultants (TEC) which said basic service provider Reliance was violating the terms and conditions and offering the services against the spirit of recommendations made by Group of Telecom and Information Technology (GOTIT).