The Hindu Business Line : DoT seeks TRAI views on mixed tech use by cell firms

New Delhi May 16 The Department of Telecom has sought the views of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on allowing mobile operators to offer services using a combination of GSM and CDMA technologies.

At present only state-owned telecom companies BSNL and MTNL are allowed to offer services using both technologies on a pan India basis. The move assumes significance in the light of an application from Reliance Communication seeking spectrum for rolling out GSM services even as it is the largest CDMA operator in the country.

So far, DoT has blocked attempts made by private operators to deploy both technologies. Earlier, Bharti Airtel was asked to surrender the CDMA spectrum since it had a pan India GSM mobile network. However, industry sources pointed out that the unified licence norms do not specifically address the issue and, therefore, DoT's move to seek TRAI's view is being seen as a step to clarify the grey areas. DoT has also sought TRAI's views on restricting the number of mobile operators in a circle to address the crunch in spectrum.

As per existing laws, there is no restriction on the number of mobile operators. On an average, there are about 5-8 mobile service providers in a circle creating a huge demand on radio frequency.

The Government, earlier, had restricted the number of mobile operators in a circle to four. This restriction was removed after the CDMA operators entered the fray. But with the Government finding it difficult to allocate adequate spectrum for the existing operators, DoT is exploring the option of capping the number of service providers.

With more than 5 million users being added every month, mobile operators in at least 20 cities are already running networks that are over capacity. For instance, Bharti Airtel in Delhi has nearly 3 lakh subscribers per Mhz of radio frequency when the maximum number should not be more than 1.4 lakh as per DoT's own subscriber-linked spectrum allocation policy.

The situation is worse in high growth areas of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where operators are packing in more than 4 lakh users per each MHz of spectrum compared to a maximum of 1.7 lakh per MHz as per DoT's norms.

"The Government is contemplating to review its policy and put a limit on the number of access service providers in each service area, in view of the fact that spectrum is a scarce resource and to ensure that the adequate quantity of spectrum is available to the licencees to enable them to expand their services and maintain the quality of service," said a DoT official.

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