The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has clashed with the government on many issues related to spectrum charges to be levied on mobile telecom companies.
Why charge for additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz, regulator asks DoT
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has clashed with the government on many issues related to spectrum charges to be levied on mobile telecom companies.
In a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday, Trai has refused to recommend a one-time charge for additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz allocated to telcos, unless the government clarifies what this would translate into.
The regulator wants to examine the DoT proposal from legal and financial perspectives.
Spectrum allocation and its pricing have become even more controversial since Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh’s presentation to the Prime Minister’s Office on the subject.
The regulator’s letter is in response to a July 9 proposal by DoT seeking changes in the Trai recommendations of last year on spectrum charges.
Even as Trai in 2007 had recommended a one-time spectrum enhancement charge for spectrum allocated beyond 10 MHz, DoT wants the regulator to suggest ‘a one-time suitable charge’ for additional spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.
It may be mentioned that some of the existing service providers have already been allocated spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz in GSM and 5 MHz in CDMA, without the government charging any extra one-time spectrum charges.
The maximum spectrum allocated to a service provider is 10 MHz so far.
Trai has requested DoT to clarify what will be the “suitable one-time charge”.
Trai chairman Nripendra Misra added that “the details of this scheme of one-time charge would be very necessary for examining the proposal from legal and financial point of view”.
According to Misra, Trai will send its recommendations to DoT after receipt of the details of the scheme of one-time charge.
On entry fee, Trai has said that as DoT is revisiting the various levies bing charged from the service providers, it is an appropriate time for the department to revise the entry fees of the different service areas also, so as to bring them in line with the present market realities.
Currently, entry fees vary from Rs 233 crore for Tamil Nadu to Rs 1 crore for West Bengal.
As for the DoT proposal of 1% increase in spectrum usage charges across the board, Trai said it would burden the service providers.
The proposed changes would amount to around Rs 1,000 crore as additional payment of spectrum charges by the service providers, said Trai.
“Trai is of the view that incidence of financial burden should be estimated in totality and isolated or piecemeal hikes with a view to mopping up additional revenue may hurt the growth of infrastructure and in the long run, the telecom sector itself,” Misra has told DoT. Despite all its objections, Trai has decided to go along with DoT on the hike in spectrum usage charges.
m_nivedita@dnaindia.net
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