Reason: The draft for the guidelines, which was issued by the Department of Telecommunication's (DoT) Licencing Cell (Basic Services Group) in March itself, and a copy of which is in the possession of The Financial Express, had envisaged allocating only 1.25 MHz spectrum to each of the players and that too only "after the completion of 50 per cent of the stipulated first phase roll-out obligations in terms of establishment of points of presence (PoPs) in short-distance charging areas (SDCAs)." It also linked release of additional 1.25 MHz spectrum to roll-out in terms of subscriber base, "subject to the condition that at least 50 per cent of the said subscriber base shall be on wire line."

However, the guidelines issued on Saturday, do not quantify the roll-out obligations required before the grant of the initial spectrum and just links grant of spectrum to only "installing PoPs in a SDCA." Also, a basic telephone service licensee shall be eligible to apply for allocation of wireless in local loop (WLL) spectrum to the extent of 2.5 MHz instead of the 1.25 MHz stipulated earlier. Of special concern to the cellular players is the absence of the clause, which linked release of further spectrum to the condition that 50 per cent of the subscriber base will be on wire line. "This would have ensured that basic operators did not use this licence to get a back door entry into mobility, but now since the final guidelines do not have this clause, even that hope is lost," said a representative of the cellular industry.

According to the final guidelines, "After completion of first phase roll out obligations the licensee shall be eligible to apply for further allocation of WLL spectrum to the extent of 1.25 MHz+1.25 MHz in SDCAs where the PoP has been established."

Another conspicuous-by-its-absence point in the final guidelines is the clause which said that "no more than 5 MHz spectrum will be allocated to any of the operators, including the existing ones," as per the draft. However, the procedure released by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) keeps this "comfortably ambiguous" as it says: "Existing operators who have been permitted to use spectrum in handheld sets in WLL system has also been brought into this regime." This is interesting considering that four of the six existing operators have more than 5 MHz available with them.

Alleges a cellular lobbyist: "This policy is skewed in favour of the basic operators. Till just one week ago, the draft guidelines were to be accepted as it is. We are now concerned about why the stand changed and under what pressure?" In previous interviews with The Financial Express also, senior DoT officials had long been talking about releasing 1.25 MHz to basic operators initially.