Tatas oppose DoT 'favouring' PSUs

In a letter to the department of telecommunications (DoT), Tata Teleservices has opposed any move to reserve 3G spectrum for state-owned companies like BSNL and MTNL.

It has also questioned the discussions in the DoT that the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for reserving 450 Mhz for CDMA 3G operations should be scrapped.

In its letter, Tata Teleservices said, "We see no rationale at all for special treatment for the government-owned operators... such treatment is not only against Trai's recommendations but also would be against a level-playing field for the private operators. BSNL and MTNL are no longer the sole custodian of public interest..."

The company said the CDMA operators had been constrained all along in their ability to compete because the spectrum band available for this technology was limited to 800 MHz band. Even this limited spectrum was allocated to the CDMA operators on a customer-based criteria, which was more stringent than for the GSM operators, considering that the CDMA technology was more efficient.

Stressing the need for opening up an additional 450 MHz band for CDMA operators, Tata Teleservices said, "We expected this policy would change as per spectrum recommendation of Trai but it has not changed so far leading to adverse consequences for CDMA operators. Trai had rightly recommended 450 MHz as an additional band worth opening for CDMA operators."

The Tatas also pointed out that the possible scrapping of the 450 Mhz band would only effect CDMA operators as there was no "commercial deployment of GSM/WCDMA technology in this band."

The letter said as much of the 3G spectrum would be used for carrying voice data in the beginning, "The logical policy, therefore, has to be to allow entry of 2G companies into 3G to further develop their markets and to grow by getting more spectrum...instead there is a move to the clip the growth of existing players..."

This was in response to discussions in the DoT on allowing more foreign players for 3G services.

A Tata Teleservices spokesperson confirmed the letter.

The DoT, which had set up a committee to look into the recommendations of Trai, is veering around to allocating 3G spectrum through controlled e-auctioning for only four mobile operators on the 2.1 GHz band. This will compulsorily include state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

3G technology services allow simultaneous transfer of both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information).

The DoT move is a clear departure from Trai's recommendations last year that at least five operators could be given 3G spectrum and there would be no reservation of spectrum for state-owned telecom companies.

It has also reduced the availability of spectrum for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators by scrapping Trai's recommendation that at least one operator can be given spectrum on the 450 MHz band.