Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to reconsider the “unsustainable spectrum prices” for the upcoming auction.
In a letter to Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal, COAI has said that at the current prices proposed by the government for 1,800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum, the only expected participation is what can be broadly termed “coercive participation”, i.e. only operators having operations to save, may participate under protest.
“The government has recognised that a high reserve price is the key detrimental factor when revising the reserve price for CDMA operators by 50%. COAI believes that a similar revision for GSM operators is warranted,” said the COAI in a release today.
COAI has also stated that the government, this time, has complete freedom to set a price that brings operators into the auction and brings about public good by ensuring productive deployment of all available spectrum and continuing competition in the market.
“In the interest of mobile telephony in India and in the interest of a successful auction, COAI requests a reduction of at least 50% or more in the reserve price for the upcoming auctions,” the association that lobbies for the GSM operators said.
Further, to maintain a level playing field and fairness in the auction, this revised price should be extended to all 21 service areas and not just the circles which saw no bidders, according to the COAI letter.
“Based on the result of the second auction, price adjustment needs to be done for those who were winners in the first auction,” it added.
According to COAI, there should be parity between 800MHz and 900MHz pricing for reserve price by reducing the same for 900MHz to equal that of 800 MHz spectrum. Even TRAI has acknowledged parity between CDMA and GSM bands.
COAI has also asked that the Licensees coming up for extension in November 2014 cannot be arbitrarily coerced to participate in the forthcoming auction and the “Government must honour and abide by the provisions for extension as contained in policy and license,” COAI said.
