Buckling under pressure from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Friday announced a roadmap for allocation of spectrum up to 15 MHz to operators using the global system for mobile communications (GSM) platform.
The government, however, tweaked the regulator's recommendations so that additional spectrum will be given in multiples of 1 MHz. Stating that this would be an interim measure, the government said allocation was subject to spectrum availability.
The regulator had suggested spectrum be allocated till 15 MHz. The Wireless Planning and Coordination wing under DoT had earlier notified subscriber base criteria for spectrum allotment up to 7.2 MHz.
GSM service providers feel it will be difficult for any of them to get more than 10.2 MHz in the new subscriber guidelines. For 11.2 MHz, telecom companies need to have 4 million subscribers in a city like Delhi, which has a population of around 14.5 million and there are nearly 10 operators offering services. For 12.2 MHz, the subscriber base needs to be around 4.9 million.
Mobile firms need to have 6.5 million subscribers in Delhi for 14.2 MHz of spectrum before they can be considered for the last tranche of 0.8 MHz till the limit of 15 MHz. The revenue share for spectrum charges will apply on the adjusted gross revenue for the complete service area.
Mobile firms need to have 6.5 million subscribers in Delhi for 14.2 MHz of spectrum before they can be considered for the last tranche of 0.8 MHz till the limit of 15 MHz. The revenue share for spectrum charges will apply on the adjusted gross revenue for the complete service area.
Meanwhile, Tata Teleservices slammed the regulator's stance on spectrum allocation as discriminatory and one that favoured GSM operators, which it said would get twice as much frequency as operators offering mobile services through the rival code division multiple access technology platform, like itself.