'Make most of given spectrum'

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today said operators must make maximum use of available infrastructure and ensure efficient use of spectrum allocated to them before demanding additional spectrum.

"There is no problem about spectrum allocation for rural areas. In urban areas, the problem persists. Operators are facing problems as they are not increasing the number of base stations and this is resulting in huge number of call drops," Trai member DPS Seth said at the Wireless and Mobile India 2005 exhibition.

He said, for spectrum to be used efficiently, operators must maintain a minimum number of base stations in all service areas. He also cited a recent study by the regulator on mobile coverage in NDMC and Lutyens' Bungalow Zone areas of Delhi, which revealed that inadequate number of cell sites was resulting in poor coverage, call drops and heavy congestion.

"Operators must ensure that they adhere to the norms laid by Trai in this regard and maintain at least the minimum number of base stations," he said, adding that the quality of service was closely related to the availability of spectrum.

However, Seth admitted that operators deserved a minimum allocation of sustainable level of spectrum before being advised to use it efficiently. "Whoever is holding the spectrum must release the unused part in view of the rising demand for wireless communication," he said.

Earlier, Wireless Advisor to the Government PK Garg defended the government's move to allocate spectrum to operators based on their subscriber base and added that this criteria was chosen as it was easy to implement and monitor.

Responding to this, Airtel CTO Jagbir Singh said instead of subscriber base, the traffic situation should be considered, especially in Indian conditions. "The allocation of spectrum to Indian operators is the lowest in the world at 25 Mhz compared to 100 Mhz in the UK," he added.