Aditya Birla Group Company, Idea Cellular said the TRAI recommendations on 2G spectrum pricing were flawed and adopting them would be like “slaughtering the goose laying golden eggs of progress”.
“We are dismayed by the continual flip-flops in policy formulation in the telecom sector. In the same breath, the principles of transparency and auction-based spectrum pricing are touted, whereas arbitrary and unreal administered numbers are sought to be portrayed as ‘market based’,” Idea said in a statement Friday.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended fixing the price for 6.2 Mhz of pan-India start-up 2G spectrum at Rs 10,972.45 crore (US$2.4 billion), more than six times the present cost of Rs 1,658 crore.
TRAI has also said every Mhz of additional spectrum (on an all-India basis) beyond the contracted limit of 6.2 Mhz would cost a massive Rs 4,571.87 crore.
Most of the telecom firms, including Bharti (BSE:532454), Vodafone, Idea and state – owned companies like BSNL and MTNL, hold extra spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz and the new norms would put a huge financial burden on these telcos.
“Even more curious is how total spectrum holdings are sought to be aggregated for some operators, but disaggregated for select others, never mind the loss to the exchequer or basic level playing field considerations,” Idea said.
Other leading telcos like Bharti airtel and Vodafone have also criticised the recommendations calling them “flawed, illogical and discriminatory”.
“Our sector has seen many absurdities already. The goose that laid the golden egg of progress, is being led to slaughter. We can only hope that reason will prevail and a market driven mechanism will be allowed,” Idea added.
