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G. Rambabu

Excuses won't do any longer. It's time telecom service providers gave subscribers their money's worth.

THE unified licensing regime for cellular and basic operators that was recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and subsequently approved by the Union Cabinet is now at our door-step. It will not be long before the limited mobility (WLL) operators — who hold a basic service licence — will be able to offer full-fledged mobility to their subscribers. From then on the battle to capture the market will not be between cellular and WLL services, but between two competing technologies — GSM and CDMA.

While it is difficult to take a position on which of these technologies is "superior", the fact remains that CDMA is a relatively newer technology and is also the fastest growing across the world. Although it will be quite sometime before the total subscribers on the CDMA platform will outnumber those on the GSM platform, experts agree that the one major advantage of the CDMA technology (which incidentally was developed for military purposes in the US) allows a more efficient use of spectrum.

While all this jargon may confuse the layman with no interest in telecom - who by chance (or curiosity) happens to read this column, in simple words, it means that a mobile operator who uses the CDMA technology to provide cellular services to his customer will be able to pack in more traffic on the limited frequency that is allocated to him, than a competing operator who uses the GSM technology. Also, the clarity of the voice will be much more superior because of the way the calls are handled and passed on. Well, this is not a personal opinion, but a well-documented fact which has been acknowledged even by the GSM operators.

Be that as it may, the purpose of this article is not to compare or take sides with any of the two competing technologies — a battle which continues, the world over, akin to the famous Coke Vs Pepsi, or IBM Vs Apple fights! Rather what drew attention was a recent statement by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman, Pradip Baijal, that the existing GSM operators in the country are not utilising their spectrum efficiently. So after all, the reason for the frequent dropped calls and fault rates in the cellular services are not because the operators are utilising either of these technologies but rather because they are not taking full advantage of the technology to deliver quality service to customers.

"Efficient utilisation of spectrum by all service providers is of utmost concern to TRAI, especially in a country like India where wireless subscribers are growing at a very fast rate. However, based upon the international statistics, TRAI is of the opinion that existing operators need improvement in efficiency of utilisation of the spectrum. TRAI shall provide its recommendations on efficient utilisation of spectrum, spectrum pricing, availability and the spectrum allocation procedure shortly", the Authority has stated in its recommendations on Unified licensing.

Now for some technical stuff that cannot be avoided.

The existing three GSM Cellular Operators (including MTNL & BSNL) have been allocated spectrum in 890-915 MHz paired with 935-960 MHz Band. The 4th Cellular Operators have been allotted spectrum in 1710-1785 MHz, paired with 1805-1880 MHz Bands. The allotted spectrum varies from 4.4+4.4 MHz to 10+10 MHz depending upon the number of subscribers in each service area.

Existing WLL operators who utilise the CDMA technology have been allocated 5+5 MHz in 824-844 MHz paired with 869-889 MHz bands on a `first-come first-served' basis. The same principle shall be followed for allocation of frequency in the 1880-1900 MHz Band at a later date.

The TRAI has clearly stated that service providers migrating to the Unified Access Licensing Regime will continue to provide wireless services in the already allocated/contracted spectrum and no additional spectrum would be allotted only because of migration. There shall be no change in the spectrum allocation procedure as part of the migration process.

The cellular operators are, however, demanding that the allocated spectrum is not enough, stating that more frequency would help them provide better services to their subscribers. The TRAI, has carried out a detailed analysis of spectrum usage around the world which clearly points out to the inefficiency in India. A telling example is the comparison between the largest cellular operator in Delhi and Shanghai. Although Shanghai has a far greater number of mobile users, the operator is far more efficient in utilisation of spectrum by packing in more subscribers per Mhz. If we compare the spectrum usage of our service areas with some of the European countries of comparable size, it can be inferred that much higher subscriber density is possible.

So the next time the cellular service provider complains that the poor quality of service is due to lack of adequate spectrum, take it with a pinch of salt.

Today, since the number of GSM subscribers (over 19 million) is more, the problem of poor voice clarity is being faced only by the cellular subscribers. Tomorrow, in the unified licensing regime, CDMA subscribers too could face the same problem.

The writing is on the wall. Now instead of complaining about each and everything, it is about time the service providers gave the subscribers their money's worth. All they have to do is pump in a little more investment and provide adequate base stations and towers to make efficient use of the allotted spectrum. The subscriber will not be bothered whether it is CDMA or GSM technology as long as he can talk more clearly without any disturbance.

grambabu@thehindu.co.in

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