Can't give more spectrum to CDMA providers: DoT

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has rejected the demand of Sistema Shyam for more spectrum to CDMA service providers.

It has said the existing allotment of 2.5 MHz+2.5 MHz would suffice for commercial telecom services. The company had asked for this to be raised to 3.75 Mhz+3.75 MHz for CDMA providers.

In a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, DoT said it was not possible to consider the extra allotment at this stage. The company declined to comment.

Sistema had said it got only 2.5 MHz of spectrum for every telecom circle, in comparison with the 4.4 MHz initially allocated to all GSM providers.

To this, DoT said the initial spectrum allotted to CDMA and GSM players was in accordance with the relevant provisions of their service licence agreements and according to the subscriber-linked criteria, in line with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) recommendations.

The review of subscriber-linked criteria for allotment of additional spectrum is undertaken from time to time taking into account Trai’s recommendations. The spectrum review committee under the chairmanship of Subodh Kumar, Additional Secretary, DoT, had recommended on what should be done for allocation of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz. The report was given to DoT and is now with Trai for its final views.

Subsequently, Trai had released a consultation paper on ‘Overall Spectrum Management and Review of license terms and conditions’. The formal recommendations are awaited.

DoT’s letter also said CDMA technology is much more spectral-efficient than GSM technology for cellular communications, catering to more subscribers for the same amount of spectrum. It said the allotment was worked out keeping in mind the inherent spectrum utilisation efficiency of different technologies, which leads to equitable and not necessarily equal allotment of spectrum, the department added.