J S Sarma, who retired this weekend as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), tells Surajeet Das Gupta that the base price impact of spectrum auction will not be more than 4 paise a minute. Edited excerpts:
GSM operators have attacked you for a very high base price. They say rates will go up by 30-40 per cent but you have stuck to your numbers. Why?
Based on our calculation, the impact will not be more than 4p. Only in one place will it be 8p per minute. We have taken various scenarios while coming to this conclusion. So, we do not see any impact on consumers at all. Even if there is an impact, it will be minimal.
You have also made some changes from sticking to the 5MHz spectrum for auction in some circles.
Yes. In about 10 circles, we have said that if there is more spectrum available after keeping it for refarming, it can be auctioned up to 10 MHz.
Are you satisfied, and do you think you have clarified the points raised by the department of telecommunication?
If I was not satisfied, I would not have recommended them.
Why have you increased the spectrum fee from one per cent to three per cent?
At one per cent, the savings of the industry would be 68 per cent of the renewal fee that will be paid by the industry. By making it three per cent, the savings come down to 31 per cent.