The ruckus began after the basic telecom lobby sprang a surprise by demanding that they be allowed to offer limited mobility wireless phones so that they can provide services in villages at affordable costs.

Association of Basic Telephone Operators (ABTO) said in a press conference that government has already announced technology neutral policy last year which allows even Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) to be used for fixed phone service. ABTO secretary general Mr S C Khanna told reporters that if government cleared its proposal to use CDMA base stations with WiLL technology for fixed phone service, basic service providers would be able to offer cheap service to customers. Reacting to the basic operators demand, cellular lobby said there cannot be any back door entry in the mobile phone business. "There is nothing called limited mobility anywhere in the world", said Mr T V Ramachandran, director general of Cellular Association of India.Mr Ramachandran told The Financial Express that cellular companies have paid 13 to 19 per cent entry fee as per the migration package last year, whereas the basic service companies have paid as little as two to four per cent entry fee. "If the government allowed them to enter the cellular sector through what is being described as `limited mobility', better let the government consider our entry fee on par with them and refund the remaining", he added.

Mr Khanna said Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) has already launched the service last year with 10,000 connections and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is also thinking in the same line. He said similar service has been introduced in countries like Brazil, China, Kuwait and Romania.Mr Khanna said equipment cost for CDMA-WLL fixed phone equipment would be only Rs 15,000 per line, whereas the cellular systems would cost Rs 30,000 per line. "Hence we can offer the service to customers at very affordable prices", he added.

Moreover, rollout will be faster compared to the cellular service. In fact, there is no conflict with cellular service because the proposed CDMA-WLL would be working in the bandwidth of 822 to 844 MHz and 869 to 889 MHz, against the GSM cellular service working in 900 MHz, Mr Khanna said. He argued that basic operators are permitted to use WLL technology to provide access to subscribers and a user with a handheld terminal is able to have limited mobility by virtue of the technology. Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) which specifies quality for equipment has laid down certain specifications also, he said.