Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and J&K are the only three telecom circles where the Telecom Engineering Centre has relaxed the subscriber-linked eligibility criteria.
BSNL’s No 1 in Haryana and J&K, while Bharti tops in HP
NEW DELHI: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) are the only three telecom circles where the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) has relaxed the subscriber-linked eligibility criteria for additional GSM spectrum allocation across 8 mega hertz (mhz), 10 mhz and 12.4 mhz frequency bands.
It has allowed more spectrum for less subscriber numbers in these areas to GSM players.
That’s in contrast to the four metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai) and all five states under circle A (Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu), which will have to pack in up to five times the subscriber numbers that the telecom regulator had recommended for allocation of additional spectrum across frequency bands.
And, in Kerala, TEC has retained the minimum subscriber level required for 12.4 mhz band as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in August.
The leading GSM player in Haryana is Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) with 11.9 lakh subscribers, followed by Vodafone Essar with 10.7 lakh, Idea Cellular with 9.09 lakh, and Bharti Airtel with 8.52 lakh users.
Besides Haryana, BSNL is the leading GSM player in J&K, North-East and Maharashtra.
In J&K, BSNL leads with 7.9 lakh GSM users, followed by Bharti at 7.19 lakh subscribers. In Himachal Pradesh, Bharti leads with 6.9 lakh GSM subscribers, followed by BSNL with 5 lakh, Reliance Telecom with 1.7 lakh, Idea with 47,255 and Dishnet with 23,060 users.
While Haryana and Kerala fall under Circle B in the telecom lingo, Himachal Pradesh and J&K are in Circle C.
There are 23 telecom service areas across India, divided into metros, ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ circles, depending on the revenue potential.
The TEC norms are also being seen as a departure from the existing guidelines in some ways.
So far, subscriber-linked spectrum allocation criteria were prescribed for an entire circle and not separately for all the states.
However, now TEC has laid down separate subscriber-linked eligibility criteria for all 23 service areas, rather than formulating circle-wise rules.
Among the 23 circles, Andhra Pradesh with 113 lakh GSM users, Maharashtra with 112.8 lakh, Tamil Nadu with 110.3 lakh, Karnataka with 108.3 lakh, and Gujarat with 107.9 lakh make the top five.
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