The Hindu : Business : Cap on operators should go

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Thursday, Aug 30, 2007
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Cap on operators should go — TRAI

Sandeep Joshi

Seeks auction for future spectrum allocation

One-time fee for allocation of spectrum beyond 10 MHz suggested
Combined market share of merged entities should not exceed 40 p.c.

NEW DELHI: Giving its recommendations on reforms in the licensing policy for access service provision, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday said there should be no cap on the number of operators in any service area. Besides asking the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to form a multi-disciplinary committee to frame spectrum allocation criteria, it favoured use of GSM and CDMA technologies by the same operator.

According to TRAI, the committee for framing of spectrum allocation criteria should have members from DoT, TRAI, the wireless planning and coordination wing of the Communications Ministry and operator associations. The telecom regulator has suggested a one-time fee from operators for allocation of spectrum beyond 10 MHz. At present, a company pays one per cent of its revenue to the Government for additional spectrum, being allocated based on the subscriber base. TRAI has forwarded its recommendations to DoT.

TRAI has suggested that the cost of 2 x 5 MHz of spectrum in category ‘A’ circles and Mumbai and Delhi should be Rs. 80 crore, while for category ‘B’ circles and Chennai and Kolkata, it should be Rs. 40 crore and for category ‘C’ circles Rs. 15 crore. For allotment of 1 MHz spectrum, TRAI has suggested a one-time fee of Rs. 16 crore. It has also sought auction for future allocation of spectrum except in the case of allotment to mobile operator on 800, 900 and 1800 MHz band.

On M&As, TRAI has said the combined market share of the merged entities should not exceed 40 per cent, either in terms of subscribers or revenue against 67 per cent now. It has proposed that an operator should be allowed to acquire up to 20 per cent equity in the target licensee company in the same circle against the present cap of 10 per cent.

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