Probe CDMA entry into mobility: COAI to govt

The tussle between the telecom operators' associations is hotting up with GSM operators' body Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) asking the telecom ministry to probe the entry of CDMA operators into mobility services and also the aspect of morphing of WLL(M) into full-blown mobility.

This follows a letter by the Association of United Service Providers of India (AUSPI), the apex body of CDMA operators, alleging that GSM operators were given spectrum "way beyond their licence conditions".

Terming the allegations as "serious and baseless", COAI Director-General TV Ramachandran stated that the government had been allotting spectrum to the GSM operators as per licence conditions and the government's Wireless Planning Committee (WPC) guidelines.

COAI, in its letter to Minister for Communications and Information Technology A Raja, rubbished the claims that GSM operators were not paying for the additional spectrum allotted to them and that there was a cap of 6.2 MHz spectrum for GSM operators.

The letter also stated that the present method of spectrum allocation was based on the "usage, justification and availability". This had been the method of allocation in the country for past several years, it added.

Ramachandran sought an inquiry into how CDMA operators got into mobility services. This is with reference to the 2003 judgement of the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) which had held that the grant of limited mobility was not legal and had further gone on to direct that the licences of the Fixed Service providers "shall be revoked" to the extent that they had been modified to allow limited mobility.

AUSPI had earlier alleged that GSM operators were given spectrum "way beyond their licence conditions", with its secretary general S C Khanna asking the ministry to look into "how and why spectrum was allocated to GSM operators beyond the mandated 4.4+4.4 MHz".