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New Delhi , Aug 8

THE Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has in a majority judgment of 2:1 ruled that it is legal for the fixed service providers to offer limited mobility (WLL) services under the terms of their basic licence.

However, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in consultation with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), within a period of four months, would have look into the issue of providing a level playing field for the cellular operators by way levying additional entry fees and spectrum charges on basic operators for providing the service.

"We consider that the Government should have, both on policy considerations as well as economic grounds, levied an appropriate fee for permitting basic service operators to provide limited mobility within the SDCA. What should be the quantum of such fee; whether it should be linked to revenue sharing; whether it should be a one-time fee, etc are issues which are best decided in consultation with the TRAI. However we have seen no patent illegality in the action of the Government," the order states.

The majority ruling by Mr R.U.S. Prasad and Mr P.R. Dasgupta, members TDSAT notes further that there is no doubt that entry of basic service operators with limited mobility services has affected the cellular mobile service providers in an area, where competition hitherto was limited.

The reasons given by TRAI for not recommending any additional entry fee for this service are not convincing enough as this is an enormous value added service over the fixed service which basic operators have been providing.

"Since there is a value addition which has a definite impact on level playing field conditions, we feel that there is enough justification for imposing additional entry fee over and above what they are paying as required under the basic service licence. There would be a case for levying additional spectrum charge for WLL service over and above what is being paid at present. The TRAI should recommend the additional quantum of entry fee following a transparent process with due consultation. The same case may be followed in case additional spectrum is made available," the order notes. Further some relief should be given to the cell operators in regard to the points of interconnection and whether these point should be go beyond the present limits. In regard to retention of 5 per cent access charges, which has been allowed to cellular operators, there is a case for increasing this percentage to a reasonable level.

While considering the level playing field issue, it is necessary to keep in view the character and the features of the two services, namely the cellular and WLL, the obligation cast on these two categories of service providers, the area of their operation, their customer segments as well as their revenue earning potential.

First and foremost it is important to ensure that mobility in the case of WLL services remain restricted to the short distance charging area (SDCA) and no handover from one SDCA to another is allowed under any circumstance. It should be possible to ensure this through application of appropriate software, the TDSAT majority ruling states.

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