The Spectrum Tussle - Cdma V Gsm

[Karthik R 246]

Plan panel to suggest pricing formula for spectrum allocation

NEW DELHI: The Planning Commission will suggest a pricing formula and method of reallocation of spectrum once the tenure of existing licences runs out.

The Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, has forwarded the suggestions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on spectrum management and licensing framework to the commission for feedback.

"The government has asked us to give our recommendations on the issue and we are working on it. We are looking into the report and we will submit our observations on it," said Ashwini Kumar, minister of state for planning and parliamentary affairs. The minister is also in charge of the committee within the commission to study the report.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had recently announced that telecom licences will be renewed for 10-year-period compared with 20 years currently, and said companies must submit applications for new permits at least 30 months prior to the expiry of their licences. About 11 mobile phone companies will have to renew their permits between 2014 and 2021.

The commission will also take stock of the recommendations of the report which include issues like linking prices of 2G spectrum with those of third generation (3G) spectrum and taking back spectrum held by operators and relocating it more efficiently.

"We have also been asked to suggest a pricing formula and way to go about reallocation which does not form the recommendations of the current report. We have been asked to look at the report in its entirety," said another Plan Panel official privy with the developments.

The study was done while A Raja was the telecom minister and had suggested putting a limit on the amount of radio waves a telco can hold and asked companies to pay a one-time fee for holding excess spectrum. But sector regulator Trai has come out with a fresh set of recommendations recently on spectrum pricing, while adding that it would soon suggest a method of pricing of airwaves when mobile permits are renewed.

The regulator asked the government to impose a one-time pan-India fee of Rs. 4,572 crore for every unit of airwaves telcos hold beyond the contracted limit. Calculations by ET had revealed that the industry would have to shell out Rs. 17,513 crore if the government accepts the regulator's recommendations, with state-owned BSNL and MTNL bearing the brunt, as they will have to cough up about 50% of this amount.

New operators, including dual technology companies who were given mobile permits in 2008, have been given only 4.4 MHz of startup spectrum. While Trai has not recommend pricing for additional airwaves be applied for spectrum beyond the 4.4 MHz mark for these companies, it, however, said that every unit of airwaves between 4.4 MHz and 6.2 MHz could be valued at Rs. 1,770 crore (pan-India). Sibal had recently said the ministry will charge mobile operators for additional spectrum at market-determined prices beyond the 4.4 MHz mark, indicating that companies such as RCOM and Tata Teleservices will also have to pay up.The Planning Commission is expected to come up with a methodology of pricing and re-allocation that will be considered by an internal committee within DoT.

Last month, the telecom department had indicated to all mobile phone companies that they will have to pay market rates for getting 6.2 MHz or units of airwaves in every region when they renew their licences.

Via : Economic Times

[kesav 127]

Joshi submits 2G report, wants Speaker's action

NEW DELHI: Chief of the public accounts committee (PAC) Murli Manohar Joshi met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Saturday and submitted the panel's report on the 2G spectrum scam. Undeterred by the Congress's charges of bias, the BJP leader said the Speaker should accept the "report" and place it before Parliament.

Speaking to the media for the first time on the PAC's controversial proceedings, Joshi said the report which indicts the Prime Minister, then finance minister P Chidambaram and the cabinet secretariat in the 2G scam was valid as it had been adopted.

"I would expect the Speaker Meira Kumar to place it before Parliament," he said, insisting that the document was a valid report of the PAC, not his personal views as alleged by the Congress.

source :: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Joshi-submits-2G-report-wants-Speakers-action/articleshow/8130523.cms

Speaker must outright reject this Joshi's report.

More importantly, she must censure him for doing such an anti-constitutional activities.

If not done, then every committee member from different parliamentary committees will submit their own drafts (to Speaker) which will be filled with their own political views.

She must bar him from taking part in any committees till end of the tenure of the current Lok Sabha.

This action must send strong signal to other committees' chairmans/members that Speaker will never tolerate such non-majority views ever in any reports.

It's time to show constitutional heads(like presidents,speakers etc.,) are powerful and not puppets.

When PAC was running, I had great hopes that it'll help to clean up the system but what Joshi has done is just egoistic.

He wants to raise his stature within his party by submitting half-baked personal report as committee's report.

He's not magnanimous enough to hand over his task to his successor who will also be from his party.

At the end of the day, party should be superior than individuals who make it up.

It's deeply paining to note that it's not known by such a senior parliamentarian.

A true parliamentarian is one who always oblige with majority's view even if his own view is diametrically opposite.

He should pronounce his view with vigor and without fear but at the same time must accept and respect majority's view as final.

If parliament is not filled with individuals of such characters then parliament can only be a slum and not shrine.

The PAC chairman, whose resignation has been demanded by the Congress, did not agree with the suggestion that the committee should have called arrested former telecom minister A Raja. "It would have taken a long time. The joint parliamentary committee can call him," he said.

What a crap answer is this?

In which democracy, can an executive delay the request of legislative?

Parliament is in Delhi....Tihar jail is in Delhi.....We've enough technologies to have video-conference/tele-conference even without physical movement.....

Joshi, you're literally killing natural justice which is fundamental right of an individual just for your petty ego....

If you want to indict him for all that happened in telecom from Promod Mahajan period....Do it but after listening to his views......

Are you a dictator in the name of parliamentarian????............

Edited April 30, 2011 by kesav

[rajanmehta 4,056]

2G scam: MM Joshi reappointed PAC chairperson

DNA

Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was today reappointed as chairperson of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), notwithstanding the controversy surrounding him with regard to the draft report on the second generation mobile telephony spectrum scam.

Joshi was nominated by his party following which Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar reappointed him as the chairman of PAC which is responsible for conducting the financial audit of various departments and ministries.

The term of the previous committee ended yesterday. Joshi's reappointment will be effected from today and he will be the chairperson for one year.

The 77-year-old leader has been recently at the centre of major controversy after he circulated the draft report of PAC on the scam.

He was attacked by the PAC members belonging to UPA who alleged that the report was prepared with "malafide intention" to defame and destabilise the government.

The UPA members created pandemonium at the last meeting of the previous committee of the PAC on April 28 which had resulted in a chaos.

Rejecting the charges of being malafide, Joshi yesterday sent the report to Lok Sabha Speaker and wanted her to table it in Parliament.

Addressing media, he also termed as "unconstitutional" the claim that 11 MPs of the 21-member committee had "rejected" the report, saying said such a possibility does not exist till the report is "read" by members and "discussed" para by para.

Replying to a question, Joshi said he would wait for a decision from the Lok Sabha Speaker on whether the report had been "adopted".

[Karthik R 246]

Average GSM bill fell 27% in Dec quarter : TRAI

Indian mobile operators continued to see average bill sizes shrink in the last quarter of 2010, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has revealed in its latest 'performance report.' Year-on-year, GSM saw higher falls than CDMA.

According to the report, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) -- a measure of how big a bill an average consumer pays per month -- fell 4.4% in the December quarter for GSM subscribers, while it fell 6.4% for CDMA subscribers.

An average GSM subscriber paid Rs 360 per month during the three months ended December 2010, compared to Rs 368 per month during the three months ended September 2010. Compared to the December quarter of 2009, the fall was 27%.

For CDMA, the fall was even steeper -- from Rs 73 in September quarter to Rs 68 in December 2010. However, compared to the same period a year ago, the fall was just 17%.

About half of the fall was due to decline in call rates while the other half was due to people using their connections less often.

Due to a proliferation of new operators pushing cheaper and cheaper schemes, mobile subscribers have got into the habit of buying extra 'SIMs' or connections to take advantage of cheaper call rates promised by new operators.

This, while increasing overall connection numbers, has brought down the number of calls made from each connection -- measured in Minutes of Use per connection per month.

The average outgoing calls declined by 1.6% from 174 minutes (2 hours 54 minutes) per month in the September quarter for GSM users.

For CDMA, it fell marginally by 0.92% from 137 (2 hours 17 minutes) per month in the September quarter.

via : RTN

[Karthik R 246]

Vodafone Essar says no to one-time fee for additional spectrum

The regulator has proposed a hefty Rs. 4,571.87 crore for each Mhz (pan India) of additional 2G spectrum held by operators beyond 6.2 Mhz

New Delhi: Disagreeing with telecom regulator Trai on one-time fee for additional spectrum, Vodafone Essar on Monday said there is no such provision in the licence and it cannot be “unilaterally and wrongfully thrust on us.”

Under the current licence conditions, there is no limit of 6.2 Mhz. Hence it is erroneous to refer to it as “contracted spectrum”, Vodafone Essar, which is facing a tax liability of over $ 2 billion on purchase of Hutchison stake, said in a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

Trai has proposed a hefty Rs. 4,571.87 crore for each Mhz (pan India) of additional 2G spectrum held by operators beyond 6.2 Mhz. The report is being examined by the Department of Telecom (DoT) and a final decision is expected soon.

The company, however, favoured auction route for all spectrum allocation in the future saying its the most optimal and efficient way of allotting the scarce natural resource.

It said the auction will introduce a consistent approach to pricing of spectrum rather than radically different approaches to charging for it, despite the fact that all operators compete in the same market.

The company asserted that any administrative approach sought to be adopted by the Government will undoubtedly run into roadblocks. Auction, on the other hand, will unlock the huge revenue opportunities of the spectrum lying unutilised with DoT, it added.

Vodafone, however, supported Sibal on delinking spectrum from licence in future, saying that it will help reforms in spectrum auction, merger and acquisition and spectrum trading.

“The common man will benefit if the scarce and precious resource of spectrum is used efficiently. This can be achieved through allocation and trading of this resource through a market based process which will not only ensure the highest value for this ‘public property´ but will also avoid valuable spectrum being locked up/under-utilised in low or less efficient use,” Vodafone Essar said in the letter.

Sibal has already announced broad contours for framing new telecom policy 2011 in order to put in place transparent environment in the telecom industry and to facilitate a level playing field to all the telecom operators.

The company also supported, the levy of uniform licence fee across all services under various Telecom Licences. It, however, disagreed on replacing existing roll-out obligations with the roll-out coverage based on habitation.

Besides, it said, “We strongly disagree with and object to the regulator recommendation that failure to fulfil the rollout obligations would entail penalty in the form of additional spectrum usage charges.

“This recommendation is illogical and untenable as higher spectrum charges have no nexus with non-fulfilment of rollout obligations,” it added.

via : livemint

[kesav 127]

DoT plans auctions to net Rs 80,000 cr

2G, 3G spectrum sale may start in 3 months

The government plans to hold another round of auction of 2G and 3G spectrum vacated by the defence services. The hope is that this will bring Rs 80,000 crore to the exchequer.

The auctions are likely to begin in three months but the actual timetable will be decided by a min­isterial gr­oup headed by finance min­ister Pra­nab Mukh­erjee.

The telecom departme­nt has circulated a note containing the auction pr­oposal for consideration of the empowered group of ministers. According to the note, a copy of which is wi­th Financial Chronicle, the available spectrum of 20 MHz for 3G will come as follows: 5 MHz in the 1954-1959 MHz band and another 15 MHz in 1900-1907.5/1980-1987.5 MHz.

“We are awaiting responses from all departments to whom the note has been circulated. The process could take up to a month. Thereafter, it will go to the telecom commission for final consideration. It will take into account the views expressed by telecom operators. A final decision could take about two to three months to come,” said a telecom ministry official.

The telecom department estimates that a 20 MHz spectrum for 3G and 20 MHz for 2G will generate as much as Rs 67,002 crore and Rs 12,848 crore, respectively.

Last year the government mopped up Rs 106,262 crore from airwaves auctions. Of this 20 MHz of 3G in the 1959-1979 MHz band brought in Rs 67,719 crore, while broadband wireless access led to an extra revenue of Rs 38,543 crore.

The coming auctions will be transparent and in consonance with the recommendations of a committee, headed by former finance secretary Ashok Chawla, set up by the pr­ime minister. The Ch­awla report called for a tra­nsparent market mec­ha­nism for allotting national resources, including spectrum, for commercial use.

The defence and telecom ministries had signed a pact in May 2009, agreeing to release 3G spectrum on timelines based on the rollout of an optical fibre cable network by the telecom ministry for the exclusive use of armed forces.

While 10 MHz was to be released on signing of the pact, another 5 MHz was set to be released on placement of supply orders, promulgation of a defence band and a defence interest zone.

Yet another 5 MHz was to be released on supply of equipment orders; the remaining 5 MHz was linked to installation of equipment. The entire 20 MHz was released in two equal tranches of 10 MHz in October 2009 and August 2010. This has already been assigned to the successful bidders of last year’s 3G spectrum auction.

A monitoring committee under cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar decided last August to divide the 1700-2000 MHz band into two equal bands of 150 MHz each for use by mobile telecom operators and the defence network. The note said that the department of telecom had expressed some reservations about these bands.

“The department is of the view that 150 MHz in the 1700-2000 MHz band for commercial use may not be sufficient to meet the requirement of 2G/3G services as decided by the monitoring committee,” the note said.

The department has suggested the release of an additional 80 MHz in the same band for use by telecom operators.

However, there seems to be little enthusiasm among mobile operators to bid for additional 3G spectrum. “It will make sense to participate in the bidding if there is more spectrum available and the spectrum is contiguous. Much will depend on how many biddable lots are there. The sense we get is that it may not be large enough to go to the market,” said a senior executive of a telecom company, who did not want to be identified in this report.

source :: http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/dot-plans-auctions-net-rs-80000-cr-266

[faizca 5]

when will cdma 3g auction take place?

[kesav 127]

A very important question at very important time......

Unfortunately, Kabil Sibal is unable to wake up the sleeping Defense minister A.K.Antony to release the spectrum.

Anyway, A.K.Antony has holy reason of Kerala election to defend his laziness of last 3 months....

[Karthik R 246]

Trai may get more powers, to function as civil court

The communications ministry plans to grant more powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that will enable the watchdog to act like a civil court.

The move will bring Trai on a par with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Competition Commission of India and allow it to "summon persons, examine them on oath, demand documents and evidence on affidavits and, in appropriate cases, call for expert assistance in conducting inquiries", the Department of Telecom (DoT) said in an internal note reviewed by ET.

DoT has sought legal advice on the issue.

This is the first time Trai has received a favourable response from the ministry on its demand for more teeth. Its similar requests were earlier spurned by former telecom ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran.

Via : economic Times

[kesav 127]

Rai on 2G report: CAG acted within mandate

Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) Vinod Rai, who briefed senior Congress leader P.C. Chacko-headed Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Monday, maintained that the CAG acted within its constitutional mandate while preparing the report on the 2G spectrum issue. The JPC is looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Sources disclosed that some of the ruling party members sought to know from Mr Rai the constitutional mandate of the CAG in looking into the policy decisions of the government. The committee members also wanted to know how the CAG arrived at the presumptive loss of `1.76 lakh crores to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum case. The JPC meanwhile, will be briefed by the Enforcement Directorate officials and its director Arun Mathur on June 8. The ED officers will brief the committee about its probe under the provisions of the foreign exchange and anti-money laundering laws in the 2G spectrum issue. On June 7, CBI director A.P. Singh will brief the committee.

Sources said, a brief argument took place when Congress member Manish Tewari sought to know the constitutional mandate of the CAG in looking into the policy decisions of the government. To this, CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta said the CAG also follows certain conventions besides following the mandate.

Some members also pointed that the Trai had taken a “definite decision” that the spectrum 800-900-1800 Mhz bands should not be auctioned.

“That being a decision of Trai and that being a policy decision, how come the CAG has come to the notional loss of `1.76 lakh crores. Policy is not a matter which is a subject matter of audit. It is a government decision,” Mr Chacko said quoting members, while briefing the media. He said the meeting with the CAG remained inconclusive as some documents related to the CAG’s telecom reports of 2006 and 2010 were not available with the panel.

Mr Chacko said some members also wanted to know whether the CAG took into account the policy prescription of the government before arriving at the figure of presumptive loss.

source :: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/rai-2g-report-cag-acted-within-mandate-420

[kesav 127]

2G scam: Pitroda, Montek among experts to assist & advise JPC

The Advisor to the Prime Minister, Mr Sam Pitroda, and the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, are to assist the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), probing the irregularities in telecom licensing, spectrum allocation and their pricing.

The select group of experts will interact with JPC members in the coming days to provide better understanding on technology developments in the telecom sector and also on the economic issues relating to spectrum pricing, sources said. Both Mr Pitroda and Mr Ahluwalia have the rank of Cabinet Ministers.

The JPC was formed in March this year to look into the telecom policy pursued from 1998 to 2009 including the allocation and pricing of spectrum.

CAG Presentation

Meanwhile, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Mr Vinod Rai appeared before the JPC on Monday and made presentations on the telecom related audit reports tabled in Parliament in the years 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2010. “The discussions were inconclusive. We have sought information on the comments made by various Government departments to the draft reports of CAG,” Mr P.C. Chacko, JPC Chairman, told reporters here.

Some of the JPC members wanted to know whether the CAG had before coming with a presumptive loss factored in the TRAI''s policy recommendation that spectrum of 800, 900 and 1800 MhZ should not be auctioned, Mr Chacko said. He said that CAG is expected to come back with a reply to the JPC on this question.

Mr Rai noted that calculating the presumptive loss on 2G spectrum allocation was within the public auditor's mandate and that the CAG had “acted within its mandate”, Mr Chacko added.

source:: http://telecomtiger.com/PolicyNRegulation_fullstory.aspx?passfrom=breakingnews&storyid=11356&section=S174