No GoM on telecom licensing policy

Move part of multi-pronged formula to end telecom row

Unless the government is willing to risk a political showdown, there is no possibility of a group of ministers (GoM) being set up to examine the issues of telecom licensing and spectrum allocation, according to a top communications ministry official.

Several mobile service operators of GSM technology, which accounts for the bulk of mobile services in India, have been pushing for a GoM but the ministry has made it clear that "it was quite capable of handling things on its own".

The ministry's view has been conveyed to the top echelons of the government, who have been approached by operators lobbying against two recent decisions of the Department of Telecom (DoT).

One is permitting operators dual-use technology (GSM and CDMA) on their current licences. The other is increasing subscriber numbers for GSM mobile operators to qualify for additional spectrum allocation.

The officials said the communications ministry was "open to talks and negotiations" with GSM operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar among others, but pointed out that "the government has no contractual obligation to allot more than 6.2 Mhz to existing GSM operators".

"There is no right. It is only an allotment and that is a fact that they conveniently choose to forget," the official added.

DoT Secretary D S Mathur has invited five GSM operators to a meeting on November 21 to attempt to come to a settlement on these issues.

The official also said the government's legal advisors had advised against telecom operators' urgings to auction mobile licences and spectrum on the grounds that it would violate law.

The government is currently considering licence applications from more than 46 companies for mobile licences. Under earlier norms, spectrum, the radio frequencies that enable wireless communication, came bundled with the licence. The two have since been delinked.

The official added that Reliance Communications, the only company to have accepted the DoT's offer for cross-over technology use, would be allotted spectrum based on the date it paid its licence fees.

However, Tata Teleservices' October 19 request for cross-over spectrum is not being considered as it came after DoT's deadline of October 1, he added.

Call tariffs

The communications ministry has told the Prime Minister's Office that local call tariffs can fall to 25 paise a minute and long-distance calls to 50 paise if new operators are allowed in. According to a top ministry official, there will be enough spectrum to accommodate incumbents and new competitors.

"Between 30 and 35 Mhz of spectrum will be available in a few months. Only 37 Mhz has been allotted to existing six or seven operators who service around 250 million users. With a similar amount of spectrum to be available soon, another 250 million users can be added," the official said.