REACHING A MILESTONE: Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal (left), Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran (centre), and Chairman, GSM Association, Craig Ehrlich, at a conference in New Delhi on Tuesday. — Photo: R. V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI: A day after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) kick-started the process of consultation on 3G mobile spectrum, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Tuesday expressed himself in favour of pricing of the scarce resource.

"The Government has to make some money out of it (3G spectrum)... (and) make it competitive and does not want people to sit over spectrum,'' Mr. Maran told reporters after the GSM Association's board meeting here.

The GSM Association, which has over 700 operators as members, held its board meeting in India for the first time.

The Minister, however, did not touch upon how 3G should be priced, leaving the matter to TRAI.

``The Government will take a decision after TRAI comes out with its recommendations,'' he said.

Maran said India needs to learn from models being practiced in various countries. ``TRAI has given its consultation paper and now the industry will react to it,'' he said and added that the Finance Ministry was also keen that the Government got revenues from 3G services.

Mr. Maran also said the Government would allow foreign players to enter the 3G market.

However, Sunil Mittal, head of the country's largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, and a board member of the GSM Assocation, had a different view on the subject and said "there is no justification'' to price 3G spectrum.

"Contrary to the perception, spectrum is already priced... 10 per cent of revenues, 12 per cent of service tax, apart from other levies, are already there,'' Mr. Mittal said, opposing any separate entry fee for 3G services. Mr. Mittal said that to make 3G services affordable, there should be no separate entry fee for 3G.

"An entry price of any kind is also amortised over a period of time of the licence... That's a levy the customer does not need,'' Mr. Mittal argued. He said 30 per cent of the revenues of telecom companies went to the Government in one form or the other and thus there was no justification of further charging 3G services. "India must seamlessly migrate to 3G as Bangaldesh and Pakistan have done, without any entry ticket,'' he said.

He said if 3G spectrum was priced, it would go as cost to the customer. However, if the Government went ahead to charge 3G, the companies would have to pay it.

Concerned over the high international roaming rates at a time when domestic rates have reached the rock bottom, Mr. Maran asked worldwide GSM operators to bring down the roaming rates.

Addressing the media after GSM Association's board meeting, Mr. Maran asked the international operators to reduce the international roaming rates to benefit the customers. — PTI

UNI reports:

Regulation of SMS traffic

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed regulation of SMS traffic snarls suffered by mobile operators due to increased use of SMS for advertisements. In a consultation paper, it discusses the need for regulatory intervention for interconnect charges, especially for SMS carriage. It has also sought views on the pricing mechanism to be used for SMS activities such as tele-voting, lottery and online bidding. Stakeholders have been requested to send their written comments by June 30.

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