The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry lobby representing GSM operators, has raised concerns over the draft Preferential Market Access (PMA) norms.

The COAI said that the proposed PMA policy, which gives preference to domestic electronic & telecom networks gear manufacturers and mandates a minimum 30 per cent local sourcing of all components, would hamper the industry's growth.

The industry lobby group said, "Implementation of PMA. will add impediments to the growth of India's telecommunications sector and slow down network rollout and add a considerable pressure on monitoring and reconciliation of the manner of procurement."

It also demanded the de-linking of the 'security' and 'manufacturing locations' from the proposed policy, and also warned that the new policy could lead to distortions in the market.

It argued that applying the PMA to private sector would be against India's commitment to implement a trading system based on rules established under the WTO agreement.

The industry group pointed out the country is facing a crisis of low levels of investor confidence, and warned that new rules would further discourage investors from investing in the country's telecommunications sector.

Foreign mobile phone manufacturers like Ericsson and Nokia Siemens are associate members of the COAI.