Auction did not fail due to intra-service area roaming pacts: DoT

Roaming, spectrum sharing two different concepts; there should not be any confusion to asseverate that spectrum sharing taking place in guise of roaming

The notion that the auctions in November 2012 and March 2013 have failed due to the provisions of intra-service area roaming (ISAR) arrangements is “obviously not correct”, the Department of Telecommunications have said in reply to a recent audit that cited DoT the sole responsible for allowing ISAR.

Telecom operators are still in ‘Burning” need of spectrum, DoT noted, in its reply to the audit note — hasty insertion of ISAR clause in the terms and conditions of the unified access service licence (UASL/CMTS) by director audit (post and telecommunications).

Roaming and spectrum sharing are two different concepts and there should not be any confusion to asseverate that spectrum sharing is taking place in the guise of roaming, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has stated in a reply, adding that roaming is an inherent feature of mobile service.

The audit had noted that intra-service area roaming (ISAR) caused huge loss to the exchequer, as it was done without analysing the need for the service, its financial implications, and impact on the roll out obligation of new operators.

According to DoT’s reply, in case of ISAR the core network of visitors’ licensee is used while in case of spectrum sharing the core network of home licensee is used.

The ISAR does not reduce or expand the capacity of the network. But, spectrum sharing does have direct impact on network capacity and generally spectrum sharing, wherever allowed, is done to augment network capacity, it added.

In June 2008, DoT inserted a clause amending the Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Licence to enable operators to enter into mutual commercial agreements among themselves for intra-service area roaming facilities. With this, a service provider could offer service in a specific circle without having spectrum or licence in that particular circle.

The report said this caused loss to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees to the government exchequer. This is also one reason why the government received muted response in the 2G spectrum auctions in November 2012 and March 2013, it added.

According to the report, DoT’s decision was taken in “undue hurry”. Further, the audit report pointed out the insertion of the clause in the licence conditions was to help some of the new Unified Access Service licencees launch services with the help of established operators, without the need to set up their own network.