BWA players to be allowed to offer voice services - Business Standard

The Telecom Commission (TC) on Monday decided the holders of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, such as Reliance Jio Infocomm, would be allowed to offer voice services after paying Rs 1,658 crore for pan-Indian operations, under a unified licensing regime. The matter will now go to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a formal approval and is expected to be implemented by March-end. The decision has already sparked a controversy, with some BWA operators calling it unfair and saying they should not be charged more than Rs 15 crore (the value of a unified licence). Even GSM operators, especially those that did not participate in the 2010 BWA auction, are divided. A top executive of a firm with a BWA licence said: "It is not a level playing field. GSM operators paid Rs 1,658 crore and got spectrum bundled with licences. We didn't get any spectrum and had to buy 20 MHz through an auction. We should pay only Rs 15 crore." Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi) Secretary-General Ashok Sud says: "This is unfair to the existing unified access services licensees. It amounts to an administered pricing of spectrum, which goes against the government's own position that spectrum prices should be determined through transparent market mechanisms." However, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing GSM players, says the TC decision provides a level playing field between GSM and BWA operators. "If they paid only Rs 15 crore, that would not have been a level playing field. So, we opposed that. We will not come in their way now, as they, too, have to pay the same amount as we did for 2G licences," says COAI Director-General Rajan Mathews. Not all GSM operators buy this argument. A top executive of a GSM operator that did not bid for BWA spectrum says: "If we had known voice would be allowed in the terms of the auction, we would have bid for BWA. We have been deprived of spectrum at a reasonable price." Reliance Jio Infocomm has already conducted trial of voice on LTE technology and is slated to start services sometime in the middle of this year. Analysts say, with a huge amount of spectrum available, it could initially stir the market to woo subscribers by offering voice services for free or at a very low rate, earning revenues through data services. TC also cleared the unified licence regime, an umbrella under which telcos would be able to offer any service. "Firms intending to provide limited services like only internet under a 'cafeteria approach' can do so with a lower entry fee, the same as present," TC Chairman & DoT Secretary R Chandrashekhar told reporters on Monday. TC also allotted Rs 3,000 crore to support mobile services in the areas affected by left extremism through the Universal Service Obligation Fund, for five years. via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHw2IdrMe6TIcMevbuMTkj4QmSjZA&url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/bwa-players-to-be-allowed-to-offer-voice-services-113021800961_1.html

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