New Delhi, Jan 7 :    New Delhi, Jan 7:  The communications ministry will have a lot of explaining to do when it faces a sceptical Parliamentary standing committee on telecommunications over giving basic operators - Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and private companies - the freedom to offer limited mobility. This is the only agenda for Tuesday's meeting, which has been convened by Somnath Chatterjee. As the chairman of the committee, the CPM MP has already written a letter to Telecom Commission, asking for details on limited mobility. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had recently requested him to intervene in the matter and to ensure that the government offers a level playing field for fixed and mobile firms. 'BSNL and private firms can offer mobility, provided they pay the same licence fee and work under similar terms and conditions,' a cellular operator in Delhi said. Chatterjee has sent COAI's letter to the Telecom Commission, which has been asked to explain if allowing limited mobility to basic firms would hit the business of cellular operators. Basic operators keen on offering the facility do not want to pay an additional fee. They argue that a delay in taking a decision, or the imposition of a separate fee, will raise the charges of their planned limited mobile service. 'Basic operators can offer wireless in local loop (WiLL) services under their existing licences. It is a technology option, not a new service, just as internet services offered by mobile operators cannot be treated as a new service,' sources in BSNL said. Fixed telecom operators led by the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) have promised to offer mobile telephone service to consumers at Rs 1.20 for a three-minute call. 'If limited mobility based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology is allowed, we can offer low-cost mobile services,' ABTO president Rajeev Mehrotra said. The views of Telecom Commission, said a member, will be presented to the standing committee, whose suggestions in turn, will be sent to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The watchdog is already examining the issue in detail. 'We are examining the technical aspects of limited mobility service. One must remember that tempers ran high at open-house sessions. Our decision will reflect the short term and long-term implications for consumers, the service and the industry,' Trai sources said. The regulator is likely to submit its recommendations by the end of this month on the use of WiLL by basic line operators to offer mobile telephony at the cost of a fixed phone call. However, the government will have the final word, irrespective of the recommendations made by Trai under the New Telecom Policy unveiled in 1999.