Panel to meet TEC on spectrum norms

The committee set up by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for recommending revised subscriber norms for allocating additional GSM spectrum plans to invite representatives from the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) to explain the method used to arrive at the norms.

The TEC has recommended a substantial hike in the number of subscribers a company needs to get additional spectrum. This number is double of the recommendation made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

However, the TEC's calculations have come under the scrutiny of GSM operators, who said at a meeting with government representatives on Monday that it was not based on scientific parameters.

Sources say Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani "" who made a strong plea for re-farming of spectrum by asking operators to give back what they got beyond their contractual obligation under the licence (6.2 MHz) "" asserted that this surplus spectrum can be used to allow start of services by at least four operators.

Ambani said this would help the government earn over Rs 6,500 crore as entry fee and up to Rs 20,000 crore as direct and indirect taxes.

Sources said that Ambani pointed out the fact that returning excess spectrum was a global practice "" in 2007, Ofcom, the UK regulator, farmed out 20 MHz spectrum allotted to Vodafone to new players. In the US,10 MHz spectrum was redistributed, he added.

The committee has members from GSM and CDMA associations as well as independent experts.

Sources say Vodafone-Essar representatives, led by Arun Sarin, said there was already enough competition and the quantum of spectrum allocated in India was one-third by international norms.

They argued that most of the techniques recommended by the TEC would improve the quality of service and not increase capacity.

The COAI suggested that the committee should fine-tune the subscriber criterion and come out with an interim report.

Representatives of Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, said there were numerous flaws in the TEC report and it had done a rush job. Also, spectrum efficiency measures had to be first identified and agreed upon before the subscriber criterion was changed, he said.

Questioning the TEC report, it said the study assumed a network utilisation of 85 per cent, which was not practicable. He said it also assumed same traffic distribution in dense urban areas and rural areas.