The Hindu Business Line : CDMA players want one time spectrum levy on GSM peers

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Association of Unified Service Providers of India said that this will bring revenues of nearly Rs 10,000 crore to the national exchequer.

The CDMA operators’ proposal is in line with the suggestion made by the Samajwadi Party leader, Mr Amar Singh.

AUSPI’s letter comes in the wake of a communication by the GSM operators to the Prime Minsiter opposing any move to impose a fee on operators holding more than 6.2 Mhz.

The GSM operators argued that the cap of 6.2 Mhz was applicable only for new players for receiving initial start-up spectrum. They said that the cellular licence had made provision for further allocation as the operator’s subscriber base grows.

In response, AUSPI has told the Prime Minister that the Cellular Operators Association’s letter was “a blatant attempt to promote narrow vested interests of a section of the telecom industry in India at the cost of just and legitimate accruals to the national exchequer.”

AUSPI has also filed an appeal with the telecom tribunal on this issue. “The fundamental issue which is being sidetracked is the issue of charging one time payment for excess spectrum, which has been given to a few selected GSM operators in the past, in violation of the license conditions,” AUSPI said in its letter to the Prime Minister

While COAI had said that GSM operators had not got spectrum for free since they were paying annual charges, AUSPI said that the issue of one time fee for additional allocation of spectrum and spectrum usage charge were two different things.

AUSPI has recommended to the Government to levy a charge of Rs 1,300 crore for each Mhz beyond the 6.2 Mhz cap. Operators including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have 10-12 Mhz in some circles and if the AUSPI proposal is accepted then they will have to cough out a few thousand crores.

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