Govt. To Announce technology neutral Policy

[vb86 0]

TRAI spectrum policy "unbiased": Baijal

TRAI has released its recomendations on the spectrum policy. Chairman Pradip Baijal says, it is an unbiased recommendation that should take care of both CDMA and GSA subscribers.

2005-05-13 17:01

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI, has released its recomendations on the spectrum policy. It has said that the 1900 mega hetrz band is not for release, but has recomended a 2 giga hertz spectrum for both CDMA and GSA.

TRAI Chairman Pradip Baijal said, enough spectrum is still not available. The organisations' recomendation should take care of both CDMA and GSA subscribers, in the current limited conditions, he said.

He stressed that this was an unbaised set of recommendations.

Excerpts from an interview given to CNBC-TV18.

The spectrum policy is perhaps leaning towards Reliance and against city players like Tata Tele Services, Bharti, Hutch and Idea. How would you react to that?

Basically the CDMA operators wanted 1900 MW. We did not allot that to them. I do not see how there can be a protest that the policy is leaning towards CDMA operators. It is a very irresponsible comment, if any one has made it.

Are there no changes expected?

No. We have recommended how the spectrum should be allotted. There is some spectrum available to both GSM and CDMA. We have also said that some of the spectrum should be vacated. But it is our perception that even then, enough spectrum would not be available for meeting our demand of increasing subscriber coverage from the present 50 million to the proposed 200 million in 2007.

Why was the 1900 MW not allotted to CDMA?

Because it is not available. The present user has said, that they can not make it available. All policies are not written in isolation. All policies have to be written on what the legacy is.

You have also pointed out that 2X15 Mz 900 and 1800 band will be opened up when defence vacates them. Who does this open up to and when?

The existing band of 900 and 1800 is with GSM operators, so when the mode is available, more will be allotted.

How much is available currently after this recommendation?

The recommendation does not make the spectrum available. The spectrum is only made available by existing users. There is a limited amount of spectrum available at present, both in GSM and CDMA. But the main problem is, in all other countries in the world, the average allocation of 2 X 14 Mz is made for CDMA operators, and in India the allocation is 2 X 2.5 to 2 x 5. If you come to GSM, all over the world, it's 2 x 20 Mz that is made available to operators. In India, it is 2 x 5 , 2 x 10. For proper network planning, we must make more spectrum available, but that spectrum is not there. So therefore we have said that whatever is the spectrum at present, that should be allotted to the players as per the allocation guidelines, and then we will look for more spectrum in other spaces.

On his reaction to the Secular Operators Association internal communique.

This statement that you were reading is two days old and I would not like to comment on this statement because this has no relevance with our recommendation. Our recommendation thus takes care of the problems of both the CDMA and GSM operators.

You think that the recommendations are not biased towards a particular set of players?

Absolutely, and that is our job. If the recommendation is biased the people will go to court, people will go everywhere. You can not get away with buyers' recommendations.

[rakesh5295 0]

so when will this recomendation become a reality?

[anujit 0]

I'm still confused. What is the new policy anyways? And who's concerns does it address?

There is no 3G service yet. The last time TRAI said it was because "we weren't ready for it yet". So we ignorant children would have to wait and be ready for it before we got instead of having the service operators offer us the choice and letting us decide.

Now apparently there isnt any spectrum available. Where the #$%@#@% did it go? India doesnt let anyone touch any spectrum... so who's eating it all up? I bet COAI will say its RIM.

And why is the army using standard spectrums? Does it mean that if we invade a country thats on 3G, all the people using mobile phones there will get to know our military secrets?

And the end of the day nothings done. The people are denied getting better services, getting access to information and being allowed easier communication and most importantly of course being unable to download porn faster!

Edited May 13, 2005 by anujit

[Chirag 5]

Reliance, Tatas to get extra spectrum

Source: Business Standard. Image Source: DGL.Microsoft

MSN.com| Rediff.com

New Delhi, May 14: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today recommended that CDMA operators like Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservics be provided additional spectrum in the 800 MHz band and GSM players such as Bharti, Hutch and Idea be allocated the 1800 MHz frequency, which is currently occupied by the defence services.

If the recommendations are accepted by the government, Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservics and will be able to offer third-generation (3G) equivalent mobile services such as video streaming, mobile TV and high-speed internet within a month of the government notifying the Spectrum Policy.

On the other hand, GSM players will have to wait till the 1800 MHz spectrum is vacated by the defence services. Even then, the GSM operators cannot offer 3G services as this spectrum is configured for normal cellular services.

Trai has said the defence services be given up to December 2006 to vacate the frequency.

To let the operators offer 3G services, Trai has recommended that the IMT-2000 2 GHz band, which is also currently occupied by the defence services, be allocated to GSM operators as well as CDMA players.

However, the operators will have to pay an additional annual charge for using this frequency till they roll out their services.

On his part, Trai Chairman Pradip Baijal said the recommendations were a "loud and clear statement that the authority was technologically neutral".

"The same amount of spectrum should be available to players on both the technological platforms. If CDMA is more spectrum efficient and can offer additional services within the allocated band, it is a technological challenge and not a regulatory issue," he said.

The final Trai recommendations are different from an earlier draft that had said only the largest CDMA operator would be eligible for the additional spectrum.

In addition, Trai has paved the way for further lowering of mobile tariffs by recommending that the ceiling on annual spectrum charges be reduced to 4 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from the existing 6 per cent.

Operators said the move would lead to a small reduction in cellular tariffs.

GSM-based cellular operators said the recommendation to give additional spectrum to CDMA without ensuring optimal use of existing assignments would facilitate immediate backdoor entry for 3G services for the latter.

"The provision for additional carriers for CDMA is grossly anti-competitive and will enable them to offer 3G services through the backdoor. This is an exact replay of the WLL recommendations where CDMA got a backdoor entry into mobile services," said TV Ramachandran, director-general, Cellular Operators Association of India, the body representing GSM players.

The Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI), the CDMA lobby, while refusing to comment on the allegations put forward by the COAI, said the proposals "favored both platforms equally".

"While both of us will get the IMT-2000 band, CDMA players are at a disadvantage here as we do not have compatible equipment," the AUSPI said.

The regulator also declined to offer the 1900 MHz frequency, which was demanded by both GSM and CDMA players on the grounds that this band could not be vacated by the defence sector.

Trai has also said spectrum be cancelled if the 3G services are not rolled out within two years from the date of allocation of IMT-2000, and has proposed an additional annual spectrum charge on per MHz basis to avoid hoarding of spectrum.

The recommendations added that new operators should be allowed only in areas where spectrum requirements had been met and additional spectrum was available.