Doubts over roll-out obligations of 3G spectrum winners continue

Telecom operators are still in the dark about the rural areas that need to covered as part of the obligation

More than two years have passed since auction of 3G spectrum but there are still doubts on the roll-out obligation for the 3G and broadband operators.

While the notice inviting applications (NIAs) had stated some guidelines on the roll-out, both the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the telecom operators are in the dark about the specifications, especially regarding the list of rural areas that need to be covered as part of the roll-out obligation.

Further, the Government is not in favour of changing the rollout obligation from short distance changing area (SDCA) to tehsils, as it may also affect the roll out obligations substantially, according to a recent discussion. Roll out obligations in 3G or broadband are based on percentage of SDCAs.

According to the guidelines issued before the auction, operators are required to ensure that 3G is being rolled out in at least 50% of the district headquarters (DHQ) out of which at least 15% of the DHQs should be rural short distance changing area (SDCA) within 5 years which is August 31, 2015. Rural SDCA is defined as an area where 50% of the population lives in rural areas. For broadband, operators are required to cover at least 50% of the rural SDCAs within 5 years (August 31, 2015).

But, till now, there is no list of the rural SDCAs with DoT.

The DoT is also undecided about whether to follow the 2001 census or the 2011 census figures to prepare the list of rural SDCAs. It has been suggested that the tehsil or talukas and 2011 census figures should be used to identify rural and urban areas for the purpose of roll-out obligations.

According to a recent discussion, the Government is in favour of identifying SDCAs population as rural or urban based on 2001 census figures. The proposal came based on the fact that the NIA for the 3G auction was published in 2010 when the 2001 census figures were available, and there is huge difference between the 2001 census figures and 2011 census figures.

According to the discussion, SDCA boundaries are well defined and were created before the formation of BSNL. Interestingly, the number of tehsils and SDCAs in India are not same. There are about 6000 tehsils against 2647 SDCAs.

Until there is a clarity that the 2001 census figures would be followed, as proposed, for identifying the SDCAs, the DoT would not be able to prepare the list for all the telecom circles that would be followed by the telecom operators to meet the 3G roll-out obligations.