GSM players take DoT to court on spectrum delay
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Wednesday served a legal notice to the department of telecom (DoT) over the delay in allocating spectrum to GSM operators.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Wednesday served a legal notice to the department of telecom (DoT) over the delay in allocating spectrum to GSM operators. The move, sources point out, could have been sparked off by telecom regulator Trai’s recommendation on higher subscriber base as the criteria for additional spectrum allocation.
“GSM operators have been facing a severe spectrum crunch and waiting for months or even years to get spectrum. The non-availability of spectrum is affecting both new licensees and the existing operators who have far exceeded the subscriber linkages prescribed by the government,” said COAI director general TV Ramachandran.
COAI has pointed out that the extent of delay was as much as close to three years in some cases and that non-availability of spectrum for such long periods was affecting the operators both financially and hampering their ability to commence network rollout and expansion. “Consumers are impacted as operators are unable to maintain the necessary quality of service in the wake of the wait for spectrum,” he added.
The GSM operators’ association has said in its legal notice that DoT should first address the applications that were already pending with it when it last issued licences in December 2006. Even among such applicants, existing GSM players which already have a presence in other service areas, must be given first preference and priority in the award of licence as these operators had been disadvantaged by the government policy of 2003 from expanding their footprint as desired, the association said.
“Since several applications for additional spectrum have been cleared by all the relevant authorities, it’s clear that spectrum is available for allotment. However, actual allotments have still not taken place,” Mr Ramachandran said.
He said the legal notice should not be seen as a response to Trai’s recommendations. “We are only demanding the enforcement of our licence rights,” he said. Trai’s recommendation that the minimum subscriber requirement to qualify for additional spectrum be more than doubled hasn’t gone down well with GSM operators.
The COAI had earlier expressed concern at the recent spate of applications for new unified access service (UAS) licences. The organisation said it apprehends that as the applications are from companies with no telecom background, it is possible that these were just proxies for what it described as ‘vested interests’. It asked DoT to lift the corporate veil to determine the real entities behind the applications so that competition was not compromised and no entity/promoter group was able to directly or indirectly breach any conditions laid down under policy and licence norms.
“GSM operators have been facing a severe spectrum crunch and waiting for months or even years to get spectrum. The non-availability of spectrum is affecting both new licensees and the existing operators who have far exceeded the subscriber linkages prescribed by the government,” said COAI director general TV Ramachandran.
COAI has pointed out that the extent of delay was as much as close to three years in some cases and that non-availability of spectrum for such long periods was affecting the operators both financially and hampering their ability to commence network rollout and expansion. “Consumers are impacted as operators are unable to maintain the necessary quality of service in the wake of the wait for spectrum,” he added.
The GSM operators’ association has said in its legal notice that DoT should first address the applications that were already pending with it when it last issued licences in December 2006. Even among such applicants, existing GSM players which already have a presence in other service areas, must be given first preference and priority in the award of licence as these operators had been disadvantaged by the government policy of 2003 from expanding their footprint as desired, the association said.
“Since several applications for additional spectrum have been cleared by all the relevant authorities, it’s clear that spectrum is available for allotment. However, actual allotments have still not taken place,” Mr Ramachandran said.
He said the legal notice should not be seen as a response to Trai’s recommendations. “We are only demanding the enforcement of our licence rights,” he said. Trai’s recommendation that the minimum subscriber requirement to qualify for additional spectrum be more than doubled hasn’t gone down well with GSM operators.
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The COAI had earlier expressed concern at the recent spate of applications for new unified access service (UAS) licences. The organisation said it apprehends that as the applications are from companies with no telecom background, it is possible that these were just proxies for what it described as ‘vested interests’. It asked DoT to lift the corporate veil to determine the real entities behind the applications so that competition was not compromised and no entity/promoter group was able to directly or indirectly breach any conditions laid down under policy and licence norms.
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