The Hindu Business Line : Tata Tele in favour of pricing spectrum

New Delhi, Dec. 13 Tata Teleservices has told the Government that the subscriber-based spectrum allocation policy is flawed and that it is in favour of pricing spectrum.

The company said that the Government could either fix the price for spectrum by taking the global average or even through an auction.

‘Open to any option’

The Managing Director, Mr Anil Sardana, told Business Line “Once the start up spectrum is allocated, we are open to any option that the Government may use to arrive at the right price for allocating additional spectrum. We were the first to offer a value for radio waves and we have always said that it must be seen as a revenue earning potential for the Government. Subscriber-based spectrum allocation policy is flawed.”

The views assume significance as the Ministry of Communications has decided to apply subscriber-based spectrum allocation norms for additional spectrum to the existing operators.

Licence fee payment

Mr Sardana also said that the mode of paying licence fee to the Government should be based on the number of subscribers rather than the existing system where operators pay a percentage of their annual revenues.

“The Government should ask operators to pay on a per subscriber basis. This will stop over-reporting of subscriber numbers which some operators may be indulging in to get more spectrum and more valuations. This will also take care of security issues as operators will not simply take anyone who wants a connection.”

GSM market entry

On the company’s plans to foray into GSM market, Mr Sardana said that the decision was governed by lopsided spectrum policy in favour of GSM operators and changing market dynamics. While GSM operators get up to 10 Mhz, CDMA players get only 5 Mhz.

He also said that with most CDMA operators moving to GSM technology, Tata Teleservices did not want to be left out.

Tower biz

On the Tata Teleservices tower business, Mr Sardana said that as many as 30 companies had shown interest in picking up a stake in the infrastructure arm.

Meanwhile, the Department of Telecom has told the telecom tribunal that Tata Teleservices’ application for dual technology would be processed favourably. The company had applied for GSM spectrum after the Ministry of Communications announced its policy to permit dual technology.

While Reliance, Shyam Telecom and HFCL have been allowed to take dual technology, Tata Teleservices’ applications had been put on hold.

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