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A mandatory condition in the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) that states operators should use 2G technology for voice and 4G for data is resulting in a huge loss of hundreds of crores of rupees to the exchequer. This is also resulting in a virtual monopoly of an incumbent service provider, according to Reliance Jio Infocomm.
Now high quality voice can be provided using 4G technology and separate 2G technology is not needed for providing voice services, it said.
“This mandatory condition of using outdated, expensive 2G technology for voice and 4G for data increases cost of services and restricts competition as this prevents almost all licensed telecom service providers (TSP) from participating tenders, except one incumbent TSP thus resulting in its virtual monopoly…,” RJio said in a letter.
The same condition when extended in the USO tenders for providing services in other uncovered villages will cause huge loss running into thousands of crores of rupees as the government will not be able to get competitive bids in these tenders, it added.
In the letter to the Department of Telecommunications, the company said the terms and conditions in USOF tenders were “extremely arbitrary, discriminatory, restrictive and retrograde”, termed this as a non-standard and wasteful requirement. RJio also wanted USOF tenders to be technologically neutral in line with the stated policies of the Government.
Waste of natural resources
With the boundary between voice and date already blurred, mandating two different technologies for these converging services is a criminal waste of national resources, apart from being against the policy of technology neutrality, it added.
The letter mentions that in an earlier USOF tender for the North East, which was awarded to Airtel on a single bid basis.
Despite its several representations to DoT, this “discriminatory tender condition” still continues.
This condition will only create virtual monopoly of a 2G (voice) and 4G (data) service provider and deprive the people of these areas with the latest technology and its benefits.
“….we request your immediate intervention to kindly remove the discriminatory tender condition,” it added.
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