Ceasefire on GSM spectrum issue in sight

The long wait by five new pan-India telecom players to get GSM spectrum may come to an end in a couple of weeks...

The long wait by five new pan-India telecom players to get GSM spectrum may come to an end in a couple of weeks, though not fully. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to issue 4.4 MHz spectrum to run services in four circles. For other circles, the wait will be much longer as defence forces have not yet informed DoT when they will be able to release the spectrum.

Though DoT officials have not yet finalised the number of circles where the spectrum will be issued to new players, it is clear that new operators will not get spectrum in lucrative circles like Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Punjab.

The circles where they will get spectrum include Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Karnataka. For the purpose of issuing telecom licences, the country has been divided into 22 telecom circles. A DoT official said that GSM spectrum was available in six circles for all new operators.

However, the department plans to give spectrum in only four circles. The official said that spectrum in two other circles will be issued later. For rest of the circles, the DoT officials have no deadline. They do not know when the spectrum will be available.

Videocon-owned Datacom, Unitech, Shyam-Sistema and Essar-owned Loop Telecom are among the new operators who have been issued licences for providing services across the country. S-Tel has been issued licence for six circles. Among existing players, Tata Teleservices also paid licence fee to operate GSM services in new circles. The company is currently providing mobile services based on CDMA technology in all the circles.

All companies that have been issued pan-India licences to operate services have paid a licence fee of Rs 1,650 crore each. Among existing operators, Spice, which currently provides GSM services in Punjab and Karnataka, has got licence for four new circles — Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The company also deposited the requisite license fees of Rs 484.47 crore to the DoT. Once licences are issued to new players, there will be tough competition and nearly nine to ten of these operators will be vying for customers in each circle. This will make India the most competitive market in the world.