The Hindu : National : Give spectrum to new players, MPs write to Manmohan

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Friday, Dec 07, 2007
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Give spectrum to new players, MPs write to Manmohan

Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI: After political parties, Members of Parliament are now writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to give spectrum to new players so that they too can start their GSM service. They have also demanded that the existing GSM mobile operators return the additional spectrum which they are holding.

A group of 19 MPs from the Congress and the Left parties has written to Dr. Singh stating that “for the sake of fair competition, consumer benefit in terms of lower tariff and better services, it is imperative that the government allow new players in the cellular mobile sector.”

Supporting the recommendations of government-rum Telecom Engineering Centre and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, MPs have accused the existing GSM operators of blocking the efforts of new entrants and questioning TRAI and Department of Telecommunications’ recommendations for retaining their hegemony.

The signatories include N.Y. Hanumanthappa, D. Narbulla and D. Vittalrau of the Congress, A.V. Bellarmin of the CPI(M) and M. Appadurai of the CPI.

The MPs said the leading GSM players had cornered 10 MHz of spectrum across all circles, in violation of licensing conditions which stipulated that each operator was entitled to get only 6.2 MHz of spectrum. These firms had hoarded frequency close to 60 MHz. The government must order a CBI enquiry to fix responsibility and bring the culprits to book for obtaining illegal allocation and consequent revenue loss to the exchequer.

The government is likely to reject the request of the Cellular Operators Association of India representing GSM operators seeking entry of the latter’s members on the committee formed to review spectrum allocation norms. The COAI had been questioning the formation of the panel and demanding that its expert be included in it.

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