Days after Vodafone wrote to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to consider a 3% flat spectrum charge irrespective of the spectrum held by the operator, Reliance Communications (RComm) has also written to the DoT saying that such a step would suppress competition and hence should not be considered.

Also, Rcomm says spectrum usage charges should be much higher for operators who have been allocated spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz as these operators save capital and operating expenditure worth thousands of crores on account of excess spectrum. At the moment, mobile telephony firms are involved in a bitter fight over the quantity of airwaves that can be legally held by each operator, which also determines the spectrum charges. Indian telecom operators pay 2-6% of their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as spectrum usage charge and 6-10% as license fees to the government to offer telecom services.