Call waiting: Maran bats for all-in-one licence

NEW DELHI: Union communications minister Dayanidhi Maran on Wednesday said the department of telecommunications (DoT) policy on mobile telephone licences should be dynamic so that all the services can be accommodated in a licence.

DoT officials had earlier informed Reliance Communications that it will have to surrender CDMA spectrum in those circles where it wants to migrate to GSM.

The minister said the policy should be such that there is growth in the sector. Speaking to the press after a conference, he pointed out that the unified service access licence is technology neutral. He said Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) is offering mobile services based on both CDMA and GSM in Delhi and Mumbai.

However, the PSU has licences for both GSM and limited mobile services in Delhi and Mumbai. Reliance has licence for providing both cellular and unified service access licence in eight circles — Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Orissa and North East. Therefore, it will continue offering mobility both on CDMA and GSM technologies in these circles.

DoT has told the company that in the rest of the country, it will have to choose between GSM and CDMA technologies. When Reliance announced that it is looking at migrating to GSM technology, then all GSM operators in the country and cellular operators association of India (COAI) welcomed the move.

Company officials on Wednesday refused to comment on DoT’s decision allowing them to offer services on either CDMA or GSM spectrum in the company. The company has a total subscriber base of close to 19m on CDMA technology all over the country. Its subscriber base in GSM services in eight circles is 3m.