Spectrum Row: Bharti, RCom trade charges

NEW DELHI: The row over spectrum allocation to telecom operators on Friday got murkier with the country's two biggest mobile firms Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications trading charges and counter-charges over the issue.

While GSM-based operator Bharti Airtel refuted claims it was hoarding excess airwaves, Anil Ambani-led RCom alleged that Bharti's "false claims" have been nailed by telecom regulator TRAI and Department of Telecom's technical wing's "scientific calculations" on allocating the frequencies.

RCom, which offers services on the CDMA technology platform, said in a statement: "Excess spectrum of Bharti and other operators aggregates 50 Mhz across circles... GSM operators led by Bharti should be forced to return spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz."

Bharti Airtel, the country's biggest mobile operator, said earlier in the day that, "the GSM operators have less than 25 MHz of total spectrum". Without naming RCom, it also said that "a CDMA operator" which was spreading misinformation over the spectrum issue should get its "mathematics right".

Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani had recently accused GSM operators of hoarding spectrum beyond permissible levels as provided in their licenses and had sought Prime Minister's intervention for surrender of excess airwaves.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal, Vodafone Essar's Arun Sarin and Idea Cellular's Sanjiv Aga have in the past maintained that Department of Telecom's proposed norms for spectrum allocation were flawed and would hurt the telecom industry.