The Hindu Business Line : Priority release of spectrum sought

New Delhi, Sept. 12 With more than a dozen companies lining up for cellular licence, existing GSM-based cellular operators have sent a legal notice to the Government seeking immediate release of spectrum to the operators who have applied for new licence or additional radio waves before December 2006.

The notice sent by the Cellular Operators Association of India claimed that the Department of Telecom was liable to give 15 Mhz of spectrum to the existing operators or else the companies might be forced to take the matter to court.

Operators’ concern

The existing operators are concerned that they might not get adequate radio waves needed to expand operations given that the demand for spectrum has gone up due to the spate of new applications.

Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, COAI, said that the GSM operators had been facing a severe crunch on spectrum and had been waiting for months or even years to get spectrum.

“Non-availability of spectrum was affecting both new licensees who were yet to get their initial allotments and also the operators who had far exceeded the subscriber linkages that had been prescribed by the Government.”

While pan-India operators including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have sought additional frequencies in some of the Circles where they have substantial number of subscribers, regional players such as Idea Cellular, Aircel and Spice have sought spectrum for expanding their services into new areas.

COAI has urged DoT that available spectrum should first be given to these companies before the applications of new players such as STel, Datacom and Swan are considered.

No telecom background

Expressing concern at the recent spate of applications for new licences, Mr Ramachandran apprehended that as the applications were from companies with no telecom background, it was possible that these were just proxies for vested interests.

“The existing GSM players, who already have a presence in other service areas, have a prior right and 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,” it said.