TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was told by Sunil Mittal, the Chairman of Bharti Group, that a lopsided situation has been created in the telecom sector due to the recommendations on the spectrum. He added that if the TRAI report was accepted some operators would enjoy the spectrum at a very low price for 20 years the others would have to pay a much higher price for the same.

Bharti is one amongst the largest wireless operator by the subscriber base in India.

The merger norms have been tweaked between firms and the pricing of the 2G spectrum that has been recommended by TRAI is along the lines of the faster 3G spectrum.

“TRAI’s recommendations overturn all existing policies for the last 15 years and are against global norms. The recommendations are designed to punish efficient and performing companies, it said, and tailor made to favor select operators” is what the company had mentioned earlier.

If TRAI’s recommendations are accepted, then the Telecom biggies like Vodafone and Bharti Airtel will have to shell out huge amount of money for the spectrums. Pegging the price of the existing spectrum to 3G spectrum prices has been recommended by TRAI.

Apart from this, the existing operators will have to pay a huge one time fee. For spectrums above 8 MHz, the price would be at least 1.3 times that of 3G spectrum and for spectrums between 6.2 to 8 MHz the price is equal to that of 3G prices. These higher prices would impact the tariffs and the balance sheets of the telecom operators, thus making them highly dissatisfied with this recommendation of TRAI.

Another recommendation by TRAI is moving away from the subscriber linked criteria. TRAI has also recommended that the spectrum be delinked from license and the operators would receive their spectrums depending on their coverage and efficiency.

TRAI also feels that the current three year lock in period for merger of the telecom operators should be done away with given that the promoter continues to hold 51 per cent stake in the company and the merged entity’s market share is below 30 per cent.

Related posts:

1. Mobile Operators could lawfully challenge recent TRAI 2G rules New Delhi: Telecom operators are up in arms against TRAI’s...
2. DTH, Cable pricing war on the looming large with the New Trai formula Cable operators and the DTH, direct-to-home operators are set to...
3. 4G Mobile Internet Network to Enter Indian Market After introducing 3G in the Indian telecom market, the government...
4. 3G services from Bharti by year-end in India Bharti Airtel, which is India’s leading telecom company, will be...
5. Indian Mobile Market Continues Its Successful Run The figures for the month of May released by the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.