Govt gives telecom rules a Trai

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New Delhi, Oct. 19: The department of telecom (DoT) today accepted most of the proposals made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on licensing norms.

It allowed unlimited entry of telecom operators in a circle, increased subscriber requirement for existing operators seeking extra spectrum and permitted an operator to offer both GSM and CDMA services.

The decision on subscriber requirement will make it difficult for Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Reliance Communications to get additional spectrum, unless they double their subscriber base by two to six times, depending on the circle. None of these operators has the requisite number of subscribers that will make them eligible for extra spectrum.

A final call on the proposals, followed by notification procedures, will be taken only after the telecom engineering centre (TEC) — the technical arm of DoT — gives its report.

Officials said it was necessary to tighten the norms for extra spectrum as this would force operators to efficiently use their existing quota.

In addition, to the subscriber requirement, existing players will have to pay more for extra spectrum, over and above what is paid to the government based on the revenue-sharing principle.

GSM operators will pay if extra spectrum takes their total holdings to more than 10MHz. For CDMA players, this is 5MHz. For each additional MHz, the rate is Rs 16 crore for the metros and category ‘A’ circles, Rs 8 crore for category ‘B’ and Rs 3 crore for category ‘C’ circles.

For an operator keen on offering both GSM and CDMA services, the DoT has said spectrum will be given subject to availability after payment of a fee.

On mergers and acquisitions, the DoT said separate guidelines would be issued after taking the views of all stakeholders.

GSM grudge

The decision on dual technology and the stringent norms for extra spectrum have irked the GSM players, with Kumar Mangalam Birla spearheading the protest.

Birla, whose company Idea offers GSM services, is understood to have written a strongly-worded letter seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), the representative body of GSM players, also said it would challenge the government’s decision to allow CDMA players offer GSM services.

Coai had earlier served a legal notice to the DoT for delay in spectrum allocation.

Source: The Telegraph

Govt accepts TRAI’s proposals

New Delhi, October 19
The government today approved increase in subscribers base, recommended by telecom regulator TRAI, as a basis for further allocation of spectrum, a decision that may badly hit the existing GSM players like Bharti, Vodafone Essar and Idea.

The government has accepted the TRAI's recommendations of enhanced subscriber-linked criterion for frequency allocation and has set up a committee in Telecom Engineering Centre to "further" study and submit a report, Department of Telecom said.

CCI tells DoT not to drag feet on number portability 22 Oct, 2007, 0015 hrs IST,Gireesh Chandra Prasad & Joji Thomas Philip, TNN

NEW DELHI: After attacking the department of telecommunications (DoT) on spectrum allocation policy, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has now told the DoT that mobile number portability (MNP), which allows a subscriber to retain the number even after changing the service provider, needs ‘urgent consideration’ as it is of vital importance to competition and consumer sovereignty. “It (MNP) is a crucial element for providing choice to consumers and for maintaining competition in the telco markets. It will reduce the consumer’s dependence on the existing service provider. Therefore, competition dimension and consumer interest would be better served by allowing number portability unless there are very specific and good reasons for not doing so. The issue needs urgent consideration,” the commission has told the telecom department and other key ministries. The CCI is of the view that it is only voicing the concerns of a large number of mobile phone users who are dissatisfied with their service providers, but are reluctant to subscribe to another company’s service as they have to forgo their existing mobile number. The Commission’s only endorses the results thrown up by numerous market surveys, which reveal that up to 50% of all mobile users in India are unhappy with their operator, and are willing to switch to another service provider, if allowed to retain their number. The Commission has also brought the issue to the attention of other wings of the government like the finance ministry, Planning Commission and the corporate affairs ministry. The CCI has now joined telecom regulator TRAI, which has been pushing for MNP since March 2006. Last year, despite pressure from TRAI, DoT had set aside the issue of introduction of MNP, but department sources said that they were ‘actively considering’ the introduction of number portability because of the recent tariff hikes by some service providers despite stiff opposition from the regulator and telecom minister A Raja. Number portability has so far been introduced in Australia, Korea, Japan, Canada, the US, the UK, most of Europe and Pakistan. According to reports, its introduction has been followed by up to 50% subscribers switching operators in most of these countries. Sources said that the telecom department is considering setting up a steering committee comprising representatives of operators, industry associations and Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), Trai’s technical arm, to work out the fineprint on the implementation issues. The committee, after due consultation and also considering the cost aspects of different solutions, will issue guidelines on billing and other operational and administrative issues that have to be addressed before MNP can be rolled out, sources added. Indian telcos have been vehemently opposing the introduction of mobile number portability, arguing that it would cost several thousand crores to upgrade their networks to implement this. They have also said that the market is not mature to support MNP and this be introduced only when the country achieves a high telecom penetration. India’s current tele-density is less than 20%. If MNP is introduced, it will result in a significant churn in the telecom market and is likely to impact well-entrenched, bigger players the most. Subscribers, who stick to an operator because they find changing numbers inconvenient, will have the option to migrate to service providers offering better services and lower tariffs.

Mobile operators zoom in on villages to add numbers
20 Oct, 2007, 0005 hrs IST,Harsimran Singh, TNN

NEW DELHI: With over 200 million mobile phone subscribers across India, mainly in the cities, the operators are now targeting the villages for wireless telephony growth. The rural areas are expected to drive the next wave of telecom growth in the country, and they have a potential of adding at least 150 million new subscribers.

Not surprisingly, the mobile operators are going all out to tap the rural market. Public sector BSNL is planning to invest Rs 550 crore in the next three years to cover 90% of rural India (6 lakh villages and corresponding districts) by 2010, an official told ET on Wednesday.

India’s largest mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel recently announced plans to double its tower strength to 80,000 in rural areas by 2008. Says an official of BSNL, “We have enough cash assets to make that kind of investment to cover rural areas. We will erect 7,871 additional towers by mid-2008 and about 11,000 towers by 2010 to roll out 3.4 crore
new connections.”

The towers will not only help the growth of mobile phones in rural areas but also take broadband to the interiors. “The towers will assist in promoting broadband growth in rural areas. In areas where the towers are unable to reach we will provide telephony through satellite services. The government is planning to launch a satellite devoted exclusively to telecom services,” DS Mathur, secretary, Department of Telecommunication (DoT) said.

The DoT recently got an approval from the Telecom Commission to build a satellite for telecom services. Currently, the rural teledensity in India stands at 6.5% compared to about 50% urban teledensity. More and more rural citizens are opting for mobile phones.

According to Trai, rural wireline subscriber base reduced from 12.56 million in quarter ending September 2006 to 12.48 million in December 2006. On the other hand, number of VPTs (Village Public Telephones) increased from 5.52 lakhs to 5.59 lakhs in quarter ending December 2006.

With mobile penetration in metros reaching saturation levels, villages and tehsils are the next stop for mobile operators. Banking upon the high potential for mobile growth in rural areas, all operators are chalking aggressive plans to cover rural areas.

Source: The Economic Times

Govt accepts subscribers base criterion for spectrum award
19 Oct, 2007, 1441 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Government on Friday approved increase in subscribers base, recommended by telecom regulator TRAI, as a basis for further allocation of spectrum, a decision that may badly hit the existing GSM players like Bharti, Vodafone Essar and Idea.
Government has accepted the TRAI's recommendations of enhanced subscriber-linked criterion for frequency allocation and has set up a committee in Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) to "further" study and submit a report, Department of Telecom said.
DoT has also said that there would be no cap on number of players in each circle in order to ensure rapid expansion of telecom services both in urban and rural areas, aimed at providing equal opportunities and level-playing field to all players.
With this decision, it may become difficult for existing GSM players to get additional spectrum for further expansion as the DoT has raised the subscribers base to nearly five times.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had earlier served a legal notice to DoT for delay in allocating additional spectrum and had also opposed the criteria recommended by TRAI.
COAI had said that the new criterion was untenable and would not stand legal scrutiny and had demanded that operators which had applied for additional spectrum till December last year should be treated as per the existing guidelines.

Source: The Economic Times

Telecom News dated 20-10-2007