savramesh 37 Report post Posted April 20, 2009 The Economic Times 20 Apr 2009, 1712 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: The Government has held back allocating additional spectrum to Bharti Airtel in Orissa, in view of the telecom tribunal's recent judgment that GSM operators have no vested right to get airwaves beyond 6.2 MHz. After the verification, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said that "Bharti met the eligibility criteria and hence (is) eligible for 7.2 MHz GSM spectrum in the entire service area (Orissa)". The move to hold back allocating additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz despite an operator having a specified number of subscribers is bound to impact the expansion and quality of mobile services in a particular area. However, in the light of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal judgment, the DoT has decided to seek legal opinion before allocating additional spectrum to any GSM operator. Bharti had demanded additional spectrum based on the criteria announced by the DoT in January last year. The TDSAT had asked the DoT to work out the criteria again taking into account the recommendations of both telecom regulator TRAI and Telecom Engineering Consultants (TEC) in a month. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
savramesh 37 Report post Posted April 26, 2009 Govt panel may opt for auction model for additional spectrum Economic Times 26 Apr 2009, 1643 hrs IST NEW DELHI: A Government panel set up to resolve the critical issue of additional spectrum allocation is understood to have moved from the current user-based formula to a revenue-generating auction model. A senior Department of Telecom official told PTI that the report would be submitted in the next 10 days and there is a consensus view of shifting from the current subscriber-based spectrum allocation methodology to the auction mode. Every change would affect the existing parties in different ways and "we would try our best to bring out a fair, just solution which would be beyond legal challenge. We have already heard the stakeholder and taken their inputs," the official said. Currently, operators using GSM technology get 6.2 MHz of spectrum each while those using the rival CDMA standard get 5 MHz each. GSM operators can have a maximum of 15 MHz spectrum while for CDMA players, the limit is 7.5 MHz. The panel is headed by Additional Secretary Subodh Kumar. Its task is look at a model of spectrum allocation allotments beyond this mark (6.2 MHz and 5 MHz). Operators already holding spectrum above the 6.2 MHz and 5 MHz mark may have to stump up a one-time fee for the excess spectrum which TRAI has recommended and the panel is likely to endorse that. All top GSM operators -- Bharti, Vodafone, Idea (in some circles) -- are holding over 6.2 Mhz spectrum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
