Cellular operator platter just got wider

Even existing pan-India operators like Bharti Airtel have been allocated additional spectrum of 1.8 Mhz in West Bengal. The DoT has followed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India8217;s subscriber-linked criteria to allocate spectrum to the company.

On Thursday, DoT had broken the long impasse by deciding that existing GSM operators would be given spectrum first, followed by CDMA companies wishing to enter GSM segment followed by the new entrants.

The Anil Ambani-led RCom, which is the second largest mobile operator in the country, providing mainly CDMA services, now enters the GSM segment in a major way. In a statement, the company said that GSM services would enhance shareholder value and catalyse teledensity growth. It said that its stand on technology neutrality of UASL has been reaffirmed.

RCom can target six million new GSM subscribers being added every month nationwide, the company said. RCom currently serves 40 million customers and can now address 170 million more customers.