Reliance Communications criticises spectrum allocation

Wednesday, 26 December 2007, 20:30 IST
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New Delhi: Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Communications (RCOM) on Wednesday lambasted the department of telecommunications (DoT) for its decision to follow the regulator's method for allotting spectrum or airwaves to operators. "DoT succumbs to private GSM operators' pressure tactics. Concessions to GSM operators are unnecessary and unwarranted," said Gaurav Wahi, spokesman of RCOM, in a statement here. RCOM had agreed to the allocation method envisaged by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), DoT's technical arm, which was stricter than the recommendations given by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). "The committee set up by DoT, while recommending TRAI norms as an interim measure, has also opined that TEC numbers will substantially increase further if all the technology enhancements are taken into account," RCOM said. "Private dominant GSM operators have already cornered excess spectrum of more than 50 MHz across circles. This concession is in the wrong direction," the statement added. "DoT's allocation of additional spectrum in 1 MHz tranch will unnecessarily put new entrants at disadvantage vis-à-vis incumbents as all incumbent private GSM operators have received allocation of spectrum in the past in tranches of 1.8 MHz or more," RCOM highlighted. This comes after the DoT decided to accept TRAI's method of subscriber linked criteria and in multiples of 1 MHz to operators for which the former will be soon filing an affidavit in the telecom tribunal and also in Delhi High Court. The GSM operators were all this while getting additional spectrum in the multiples of 2.4 to 2.8 MHz. Thus reducing it to 1 MHz means additional investment.
Source: IANS