In response to the opposition by the country?s largest and second largest service providers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications to include ?spectrum sharing? in the definition of Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India?s (Trai) chairman Nripendra Misra on Monday said MVNOs would not be allowed to own any spectrum.
Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of an open house session on MVNO, Misra said that MVNOs wouldn?t be allowed to own any spectrum.
Misra added that there would have to be a lock-in period for the MVNOs along with a security amount, which would be forfeited in case the company plans to exit the business before the stipulated lock-in period.
In its consultation paper on MVNOs, Trai had earlier defined an MVNO as, ?MVNO licensee is an entity that does not have an assignment of spectrum for Access Services (2G/3G/BWA) but can provide wireless (mobile) access services to customers by sharing the spectrum of the access provider?.
This definition had raised severe objections from the mobile service providers.
Internationally MVNO definitions do not mention spectrum sharing and Airtel, Rcom and BSNL had asked the regulator to clearly specify that an MVNO doesn?t have its own radio frequency.
As first reported by FE , in a communication to the regulator, the service operators had opposed the definition of an MVNO claiming that ?sharing of spectrum? implies ownership/ co-ownership, which cannot be true in the case of MVNOs as it would amount to spectrum trading, which currently wasn?t permissible in India.
Since an MVNO with spectrum would no longer be a ?virtual network operator? but would then become a facility based Mobile Network Operator (MNO), which was indistinguishable from a Unified Access Service Provider.
Currently, only infrastructure sharing amongst service providers is allowed, spectrum sharing is not permitted in the country.
RCom had cited lack of investments made by MVNOs, as a pretext of not allowing them in the country. It had said, ?Since MVNO?s don?t make significant additions to the infrastructure but virtually provide similar services, they may turn out to be a disincentive for operators to make further investment in infrastructure?.
