DoT secretary D S Mathur?s second meeting with the telecom operators on Monday once again failed to yield any solution to the vexed issue of spectrum allocation for GSM players.
According to sources, the department of telecom made an offer to the GSM operators to accept the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India?s (Trai?s) subscriber norms for additional spectrum allocation pending final decision of the telecom tribunal. The government reportedly wanted an undertaking from the operators that they would accept the TDSAT?s decision and would not appeal in the Supreme Court against it.
The GSM operators, however, were disappointed with the offer and were not likely to accept it, sources added. In fact, the GSM operators? case in the TDSAT is against the Trai subscriber norms for additional spectrum. Bharti Airtel chairman and managing director Sunil Mittal had said on Sunday that accepting Trai norms was unacceptable to the lobby.
While the Trai recommendation had increased the subscriber norms for additional spectrum by 2-5 times, DoT?s technical wing, Telecom Engineering Centre, had hiked it by 2-15 times. Sources said the DoT secretary also asked the GSM operators to give up their opposition to the dual technology issue, which also has been challenged in the TDSAT. The GSM operators reportedly said they were not opposed to dual technology use in principle but the manner in which it was done to favour one particular operator was not proper.
The first meeting between the operators and the DoT secretary was held on November 21. GSM and CDMA players have been at loggerheads ever since the DoT proposed the new norms for allocating additional spectrum which is crucial for expanding services.While GSM players such as Bharti Airtel have opposed the new norms, CDMA operators like Reliance Communications want existing GSM companies to surrender excess spectrum.
Monday?s meeting was held even as an official committee reviewing the TEC?s recommendations on spectrum allocation norms is yet to submit its final report. The meeting was attended by officials of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular, Aircel, RComm, Tata Teleservices, and HFCL. Sources said the GSM operators also wanted the DoT to allocate a start-up spectrum of 6.2 Mhz as against the current 4.4 Mhz, which was not acceptable to the department. The DoT would take a final view on re-farming excess spectrum from the existing operators to be allocated to new players.