The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, approved the proposal the Department of Telecom on the issue related to pricing and auction of the 3G mobile spectrum, to cause no further delays in 3G’s roll out. However, the announcement of the policy will be after July 22, once UPA government survives the vote of confidence in the Parliament.
“The Authority is of the view that incidence of financial burden should be estimated in totality and isolated or piecemeal hikes with a view to mopping up additional revenue may hurt the growth of infrastructure and in the long run the telecom sector itself. However, as the reserve prices are only to fix the minimum price and the final price is determined through the auction process, the Authority in order not to further delay the process of roll out of 3G services in India agrees with the reserve price proposed by DoT.” TRAI said.
The DoT’s proposal states a higher reserve price of about Rs.2,260 crore, exactly double the price recommended by the TRAI, for telecom companies that want to participate in a pan-India auction for 3G spectrum.In the proposal , the base price for metros and category A circles is Rs 160 crore, while for category B and C circles it is Rs 80 crore and Rs 30 crore respectively.
In order to accelerate the allocation process, India’s Telecom Commission will cogitate on DoT’s guidelines on the 3G spectrum auction.Telecom Minister A Raja ensures to bring out the policy within next two weeks. He has already got the Prime Minister’s approval to go ahead with 3G spectrum auction that is likely to see foreign players’ participation in the bids.
On the other hand, TRAI does not favour the participation of foriegn players in the bid, which according to the Telecom Minister, will fetch a big money to the exchequer of the country. Companies like AT&T Inc, Deutsche Telekom AG, Etisalat and NTT DoCoMo have already expressed interest in the Indian market.
- January 11th, 2008
- 1:57 pm
The Indian department of telecommunication has announced that it will issue UAS licences to all the eligible applicants who applied before 25 September 2007. The unified access services licence authorises the roll-out of telecommunication access services using any digital technology, including wireline and mobile services. Licence-holders can also provide internet telephony, internet services and broadband services. The DoT issues the licences on a first-come, first-serve basis, but the flood of applications prior to the deadline last year had raised speculation that some companies could be refused. The UAS licence however does not guarantee access to spectrum and holders hoping to launch mobile services will still need to obtain a wireless operating licence and wait in line for spectrum.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- September 26th, 2007
- 11:44 am
India’s department of telecommunication (DoT) has announced 1 October as the deadline for accepting new licence applications, reports the Economic Times. It has been decided that new applications for Unified Access Services Licences will not be accepted after 1 October. At the same time, communications and IT minister A Raja said that the DoT has formed a committee to formulate pre-qualification norms for applicants and screening guidelines for those that qualify. All the applications will be scrutinised and limited applications will be selected. About 190 new licence applications have already been received, with real estate players like Unitech and Parsvnath among the applicants.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- September 10th, 2007
- 11:52 am
The department of telecommunications (DoT) has turned down Mahanagar Telephone Nigam’s (MTNL) application for additional GSM spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai citing saturation of airwaves in the two metros, reports the Economic Times. MTNL chairman and managing director RSP Sinha had requested DoT to grant additional frequency slots in the 900 MHz band for GSM services in the two circles as the company is facing a capacity crunch. However, the wireless planning commission (WPC), the DoT wing responsible for spectrum management, said not only was no spectrum capacity available in the two metros, but MTNL had already been allocated position in the 1,800 MHz band on a trial basis. The WPC stated that as soon as some spectrum is released (by defence forces) or becomes available, the request of MTNL will be considered.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
When it comes to 3G, Indian Telecom is moving at snail’s pace. TRAI recommendations on 3G and BWA were out late last September, still their is no sight of auction but just hopes. Since TRAI said that 3G was not an extension of 2G, IT Ministry thought of allowing foreign bidders for the scarce spectrum [Indian Military is holding to the overlapping spectrum band and is not vacating the same].
Tata’s who have always opposed DoT and IT Minsitry’s spectrum allocation policy has once again expressed concersns about foreign players being allowed in race for 3G in India. A letter from Tata Teleservices said,
At a minimum, we would expect that the issue of entry of new players, especially from overseas markets is discussed openly. The interests of the existing telecom licence holders, who have done as much to make India the fastest growing telecom market in the world must be protected and a level-playing field provided to them.
I am in total agreement with Tata’s on this issue. Earlier, DoT and IT Ministry had barred Cable TV operators from bidding for 3G spectrum by including a clause that only licensed Telecom Players were eligible, thus shattering Zee’s dream of Mobile TV over 3G. It is unfair to let foreign entities to bid for 3G at this point, when - the spectrum is scarce, existing players have committed billions of dollar and BSNL/MTNL getting easy backdoor entry by matching the second highest bidder in race for 3G gold.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
DoT’s 3G spectrum pricing gets a thumbs up from TRAI (India)
