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Thomas K Thomas

New Delhi, Aug. 21 In a move that would keep the roll out of third generation services on track, the Department of Telecom has rejected telecom regulator’s call to review some parts of the recently announced third generation policy.

The TRAI had sought a review on several issues in the policy – the key one being DoT’s decision to allocate spectrum to CDMA players based on subscriber numbers. The regulator had also asked the Government to refer the issue of allowing new and foreign players back to TRAI so that it can suggest the terms and conditions of the new licence category.

Rejecting TRAI’s view on foreign players, an internal DoT note said, “ The unified access licence are authorised to provide triple play – voice, data and video without any limit on speed of data. 3G service providers are not new category of licensees and they shall be offering 3G services under terms & conditions of the UASL licence. Therefore, the provision of the TRAI ACT 1997 is not applicable in this situation.”

TRAI had earlier shot off a letter to DoT saying that since foreign and new players will be given a unified access licence without any right to 2G spectrum, this would be a new licence category. The regulator had said that the TRAI Act stipulates that the Government should consult it before laying down the terms & conditions of the new licence category.

TRAI had also raised questions on DoT’s decision to allocate spectrum in the 800 Mhz frequency band to operators with most number of subscribers.

TRAI had said that this would not be fair to new entrants as they would have no chance of getting 3G spectrum in this band. 800 Mhz is the most efficient band as far as CDMA players are concerned.

The regulator had urged DoT to consider auctioning this spectrum to give everyone a fair chance of acquiring it.

In response, DoT said that a committee has been constituted to recommend the methodology to be followed for allocation of spectrum for telecom access providers.

“The methodology may also include subscriber base and such other criteria as shall be deemed fit by the Committee,” the DoT note said. The note has been put up for consideration of the Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body in DoT.

More Stories on : Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Telecommunications

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