2G guidelines discriminatory and illegal, alleges Vodafone - Firstpost

Telecom operator Vodafone today alleged that the  new guidelines for the fresh auction of second-generation (2G) spectrum are illegal and discriminatory in nature and has sought  withdrawal of the  issued guidelines for the second round of spectrum auction. In a letter to the Department of Telecommunications, the telecom firm said the guidelines were discriminatory  and the spectrum reserve prices for 900 mhz, 1800 mhz have been fixed at exorbitantly higher levels than   international benchmarks. The telecom operator said  guidelines  fix the reserve price of 900Mhz at three times the price of 800Mhz, while Trai had recommended both these bands to be treated at par. "Fixing reserve price of 800 MHz band at comparatively low levels benefits a certain set of telecom operators, "it said in a letter to Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar. Vodafone also said auction of 900MHz spectrum includes the spectrum which is presently being used by the company for Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata circles and since the same spectrum is already being used in its networks, it cannot be put out for auction. Getty Images The telecom department wants to start the process of inviting successful bidders by February 22, finalise the bidders by March 6 and start the upcoming 2G auction  by March. The earlier auction held in November got a tepid response from telcos due to the high reserve prices and the government got bids worth only Rs 9400 crore as against the estimated Rs 30,000 crore. In order to improve participation from telcos, the empowered group of ministers later recommended halving the price of the CDMA spectrum. The government had earlier set the reserve price of CDMA airwaves at 1.3 times that of GSM airwaves, a price that was criticised by operators as too high. The price was set at Rs. 3,640 crore per megahertz of spectrum for all of India's 22 telecommunication zones. However, not a single Code Division Multiple Access technology player participated in the recently concluded auctions for airwaves, prompting Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to indicate a reduction in the price of the 800 mhz spectrum band recently In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on 9 January, the Centre submitted that it had decided to have another round of auction in Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan for 1,800 MHz band and in all the 21 service areas where no bids were received for the 800 MHz band. It said auction would also be conducted for 900 MHz in three metro service areas, where licences were due for renewal in November 2014, in accordance with the recommendations by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India  mandating auction 18 months prior to the date of renewal. The Government on January 22, issued guidelines for the second round of spectrum auction. Vodafone has already sought extension of its licence period for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata circles, which were coming up for renewal in November 2014. The telecom operator has sought the extension under Clause 4.1 of the licence agreement under which the government can extend the period of licence by ten years at one time if the request is made by the operator during the 19th year of the licence period. With PTI inputs via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFMOc1l3V41cnuNCSdDfJgic4L5oQ&url=http://www.firstpost.com/business/2g-guidelines-discriminatory-and-illegal-alleges-vodafone-607087.html

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