Cell lobbies in spectrum row

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, March 4: Telecom industry bodies — the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi) — have resumed their high-decibel squabble over spectrum held by the service providers they represent.

Auspi has demanded that the government should charge a one-time fee from GSM operators holding more than 6.2 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum, while the COAI has proposed that radiowaves allocated to dual-technology operators should be withdrawn and sold through an auction.

In 2007, both the lobby groups got embroiled in a similar argument, followed by many letters and proposals to then telecom minister A. Raja.

The COAI represents GSM mobile service providers such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, while Auspi represents dual technology service providers such as Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications.

Auspi has warned that the exchequer may stand to lose Rs 20,000 crore if firms such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and BSNL are not charged for 2G airwaves they hold beyond 6.2MHz.

The Telecom Commission had decided that incumbent operators would have to pay for 2G spectrum beyond 6.2MHz.

Trai has also suggested that incumbents be charged Rs 4,572 crore for every megahertz they hold above this limit on a pan-India basis.

Firms have, however, threatened to go to court over this one-time fee as its implementation will force them to shell out over Rs 17,000 crore. The cabinet is yet to take a final call on this matter.

"The department of telecom (DoT) is further trying to bail out the incumbent cellular operators by not charging for the spectrum illegally granted to them from the date of allocation even after the Telecom Commission recommended the same," said Auspi secretary-general S.C. Khanna.

The COAI on the other hand, has stated that the government lost about Rs 51,977 crore because of violation of licences by dual technology operators. It also justified the allocation of spectrum beyond 6.2MHz to GSM players, saying it was "on the basis of a stringent subscriber linked criteria".

The two factions have been at loggerheads over various issues, including the pricing and allocation of spectrum. The bickering has led to an inordinate delay in a transparent and effective spectrum policy.

Last year, telecom minister Kapil Sibal had urged service providers to sort out their differences "so that the ministry could expedite the formation of new rules for the sector". "No industry can be robust if it is fractious."

COAI secretary R.S. Mathews said, "Dual-technology operators pay ongoing spectrum use charges on a disaggregated spectrum basis causing an estimated Rs 26,000-crore loss to the government."

Auspi said there was no case for paying spectrum use charge on a combined basis as the two technologies operating on the allocated spectrum cannot be combined for use.