Rift in COAI widens; 3-way tower biz fuels fire
Differences between members of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) have emerged out in the open with smaller GSM players voicing against the increasing influence of top two-three players in the body.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: Differences between members of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) have emerged out in the open with smaller GSM players voicing against the increasing influence of top two-three players in the body, indicating a clear rift.
Industry sources said regional GSM players were miffed at the pre-dominant influence exerted over COAI of the top players, which according to them was reflected in the recent business moves in the backend as well.
The formation of the three-way tower business entity (Bharti, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular) is the first sign of monopolistic consolidation, which may in some way lead to cartelization, a GSM player said on condition of anonymity.
This may well lead the way to monopolistic structures being created later, they said, adding it was neither good news from a healthy fair play competition perspective and certainly not from customers' interest.
"Views of these dominant larger players are unfortunately being made synonymous with that of COAI -- almost as if the views of the top two GSM players are that of COAI which is not the case at all," the sources said.
They said it was important, almost mandatory that all the major players, including Reliance GSM, MTNL and BSNL play as much of an active role in the COAI and the body should encourage such players to participate more actively.
The rift comes close on heels of the GSM body COAI walking out of official panel to review spectrum allocation norms, accusing the committee of working with pre-determined mindset.
Industry sources said regional GSM players were miffed at the pre-dominant influence exerted over COAI of the top players, which according to them was reflected in the recent business moves in the backend as well.
The formation of the three-way tower business entity (Bharti, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular) is the first sign of monopolistic consolidation, which may in some way lead to cartelization, a GSM player said on condition of anonymity.
This may well lead the way to monopolistic structures being created later, they said, adding it was neither good news from a healthy fair play competition perspective and certainly not from customers' interest.
"Views of these dominant larger players are unfortunately being made synonymous with that of COAI -- almost as if the views of the top two GSM players are that of COAI which is not the case at all," the sources said.
They said it was important, almost mandatory that all the major players, including Reliance GSM, MTNL and BSNL play as much of an active role in the COAI and the body should encourage such players to participate more actively.
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The rift comes close on heels of the GSM body COAI walking out of official panel to review spectrum allocation norms, accusing the committee of working with pre-determined mindset.
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