15 Nov 2007, 0051 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Amid the debate on auctioning spectrum — the frequency used by telecom companies for carrying signals — the Prime Minister's Office seems to be supporting communication minister A Raja's airwave allocation formula for existing players as well as new entrants.

A committee set up by DoT, which has industry representatives along with ministry experts, is currently finalising spectrum rules. But with DoT and PMO viewpoints merging on the merits of auctioning spectrum, telecom operators can expect a system based on subscriber linked formula.

The committee is expected to tone down some of the stiff norms set by DoT's Telecom Engineering Centre which were seen to disadvantage existing operators. But while the telecom operators may not have to show a rise of up to eight times in subcriber bases to claim additional spectrum, the airwaves being freed to allow expansion of services and coverage will not be auctioned.

The argument against auctioning of spectrum, which has found favour in government, is that while existing players are bound to be given some bandwidth in keeping with increase in subscribers and their investment, throwing the rest open to bidding will put new entrants at a disadvantage. It will make entry costs of new telecom providers, including those moving from CDMA to GSM, prohibitively high.

Official sources admit that the auctioning route will be transparent and provide most revenues to government, but the question of whether this would skew competition had to be answered as well. They feel that since the DoT committee has both COAI and AUSPI representatives, the conflicting claims of GSM and CDMA operators will be resolved.

On dual technology, government feels it should not try and control or direct know-how. It is pointed out that if CDMA model is petering out, there was no reason why operators who wanted to jettison that technology should be prevented from moving to the GSM market. If this bettered competition, it would be in consumer interest and in any case public sector firms were offering both technologies.

On over 500 applications, the criteria are being sorted out. But given the numbers, some sort of first-come, first-serve or lottery will have to be considered, sources said.

Source: The Times of India

15 Nov 2007, 0137 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Following media scrutiny, court cases and multiple letters to Prime Minister (PM), it is now the turn of the Parliament to debate pricing and allocation method for 2G spectrum.

This comes as a result of a calling attention motion filed by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP and former chief of BPL Mobile. Based on the motion on issue of 'Process and terms of sale of defence spectrum to private telecom operators', communication minister A Raja has been asked to make a statement on 22 November.

Chandrasekhar additionally wrote to the PM on Wednesday, asking his government and Raja to defend two issues. First, Chandrasekhar asks for the government's estimate of the present commercial value of spectrum (that is being recovered from the defence ministry), questioning why the government and the ministry is levying charges for spectrum that were discovered through a tender process six years ago in 2001.

Two, he has asked why the tender route is not being followed again.

Source: The Times of India

Corporate Bureau

New Delhi, Nov 14 GSM cellular subscriber base in the country has touched the 159.7 million-mark at the end of October, against 153.3 million at the end of September. The country added 5.7 million new subscribers during the month, compared to an addition of 5.6 million mobile phone users in the previous month.

According to the latest data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Bharti Airtel added 2.03 million mobile users in October, taking its subscriber base to 50.9 million at the end of the month. Vodafone Essar, its nearest rival in the GSM space, added 1.52 million users, taking its total subscriber base to 37.18 million.

State-run BSNL and MTNL added 7,27,855 and 53,739 new users, respectively, taking their respective user base by the end of October to 31.03 million and 2.82 million. Idea Cellular had 19.42 million mobile phone subscribers at the end of October after an addition of 7,50,108 new subscribers during the month.

At the end of October, Bharti Airtel remained the market leader with a market share of 31.88%, followed by Vodafone

Essar (23.28%), BSNL (19.43% ), Idea (12.16%), Aircel (5.34%), Reliance Telecom (3.15%), Spice (2.24%), MTNL (1.77%) and BPL (0.75%).

Among circles, the overall subscriber base in Delhi reached 9.6 million from 9.4 million in September, registering a growth of 2.37%. Mumbai and Chennai, on the other hand, grew 2.64% and 4.23%, respectively, whereas Kolkata grew 4.45%.

While A category circles, comprising Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, recorded a growth of 4.41%, the subscriber base in B (Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal) and C (Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East, J&K) circles grew 3.71% and 2.34%, respectively.

Source: The Financial Express

Telecom News dated 15-11-2007