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Decision on 3G spectrum by March

NEW DELHI: The Government will decide by March 2006 on the requirement, allocation and pricing of spectrum for third generation mobile services that can enable a mobile phone user to access high speed video and data.

"We will be taking a decision on 3G spectrum by the first quarter of next year,'' Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran said here on Tuesday at the India Economic Summit.

Even though Mr. Maran did not spell out anything on the roadmap, he did make it clear that 3G pricing by operators should be competitive with the entry of new player. He said, "for 3G, Europe and U.K. have new players and they were not at all doing 2G service... I also feel that in 3G, we should make sure that new entrants come into the field and invest a lot of money in it and ensure that the prices are competitive because the consumer should benefit out of it and should not be paying a hefty fee for the use of 3G.''

"If we open the 3G spectrum, we need more players to give competitive pricing as it is a value-added service,'' he said.

Mr. Maran also said the focus was currently on voice. "Are we done with voice?'' he asked, saying "we have a tele-density of just 10 per cent, that too more in urban areas.''

Mr. Maran's deadline on 3G spectrum decision is expected to intensify lobbying from CDMA and GSM players as both want specified spectrum.

The problem of spectrum scarcity due to the current heavy user like defence being unable to vacate the spectrum in desired bands has also added to the problem.

A leading CDMA player Tata has already suggested that 3G spectrum being a niche service should be priced and had even proposed Rs. 1,500 crore for that.

Some months ago, the Government had asked the two lobbying groups of GSM and CDMA to set up a group to sort out spectrum issues among themselves. — PTI

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