Scrap one-time spectrum fee: Auspi

Ahead of the meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom on Wednesday, the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi) wants the government to scrap DoT’s proposal to charge a one-time fee from existing telecom players for spectrum they hold.

In a hard-hitting letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal, Auspi secretary-general Ashok Sud termed the proposal as “illegal, violative of the licence conditions, and creating more inequalities and discrimination among the existing operators”. The letter said: “Proposal of DoT to impose one time charge for the spectrum already held by the existing licencees is not only violative of the licence conditions, but is also discriminatory and such needs to be dropped.”

Auspi, the telecom body representing CDMA operators, has for long been opposing the proposal of the DoT to impose a one-time spectrum fee on dual technology players. The telecom body says they have sought legal opinion from luminaries including former judges.

DoT had recently proposed to charge the existing dual technology players a one-time fee based on the price determined during the forthcoming 2G license auctions.

The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, is likely to discuss the one-time fees. The government will have to take a decision on one-time fee for spectrum before October 19, the deadline for operators to submit applications to participate in the auction.

In July, the Cabinet had referred the matter on one-time fee to the EGoM to give its view. Later in the month, EGoM had deferred a decision on the matter till the outcome of Presidential Reference.

Following the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Presidential Reference, the government is now free to decide. The DoT had made four proposals to the Cabinet on charging one-time fee held by existing telecom operators. The proposals included no charge for spectrum; levying a one-time fee on all airwaves held by existing telecom companies, and imposing a fee on airwaves held beyond the start-up spectrum of 4.4 Mhz and levying a fee on airwaves held beyond the contracted spectrum of 6.2 MHz.

In another letter, Auspi has requested the government to support dual technology spectrum allotment.

In the letter, Sud said that the DoT should firmly support dual technology spectrum allotment in 2007-08 to RCom and Tata Teleservices “as that was done in full conformance to the government policy”.

The letter also added that “...the government shall declare its views against the claims of industry association COAI (Cellular Association of India) and its members... and its members operators petitions at the Supreme Court may be considered as frivolous”.

Dual technology refers to players who have licences to offer telecom service using both GSM and CDMA technologies.

COAI, an industry body representing leading GSM operators, had moved the Supreme Court against permits given to RCom, Tata Teleservices and HFCL in 2007 that allowed them to offer services on both GSM and CDMA platforms.

COAI had sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to declare dual-technology licences granted to the telcos as mala fide, in the light of the court’s own decision to annul 122 mobile permits granted to eight new telecom companies in February.