India’s new telecom operators, which includes Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications, Sistema-Shyam and Uninor among others, have asked the government to consider allotting up to 6.2 megahertz spectrum to them without any additional charge, media reports stated.
“Terming the proposal to charge new telcos for additional spectrum beyond 4.4 megahertz as ‘discriminatory,” new operators such as Tatas, RCom (for foray into GSM services), Sistema- Shyam, Uninor and others have approached the Telecom Ministry saying it will impact their sustainability and scalability,” the Economic Times reported.
“We are deeply concerned about this proposal as we have contractual arrangement with the Government for allotment of 6.2 megahertz against one-time entry fee and based on that we did our network, financial and marketing planning activities and decided the roll out plans,” the telecom operators told the government in a letter.
“If new operators like us are now going to be burdened with additional payment for 1.8/2.5 megahertz spectrum, it would impact our sustainability and scalability,” the telcos stated in the letter.
According to the ET report the telecom regulator has been “mulling charging telecom operators for additional 1.8 megahertz (GSM)/2.5 meghertz (CDMA) spectrum, beyond the start-up spectrum of 4.4 megahertz/2.5 megahertz respectively.”
The telcos said that the additional charges under consideration will be discriminatory, against the level playing field and may derail their business plans. They also added that such charges violates the present license conditions.
The letter also requests the government to re-consider the proposal and seek legal opinion on the issue before taking a final decision on the matter.
“The valid legal contract cannot be unilaterally changed by one party especially when the proposal has huge financial implication to the other party. The principle natural justice requires the consultation with the party who is going to be financially adversely impacted, by the unilateral change in the license provision,” the letter stated.
