Hutch Essar MD slams Tata stand on spectrum

In a full frontal attack on the CDMA operators' allegations of discrimination in spectrum allocation, Hutchison Essar MD Asim Ghosh has alleged that Ratan Tata was putting forth "dangerous misconceptions".

Sources said Ghosh had said the CDMA operator Tata Tele was "obfuscating facts to gain regulatory arbitrage".

Tata had recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following which Asim Ghosh also wrote to the PM. Bharti Airtel Chairman and MD Sunil Mittal is also planning to write to the PM on the matter.

Ghosh's communication to the PM expressed surprise at Tata's demand for equal allotment of spectrum for the two competing mobile technologies ""CDMA and GSM. CDMA Operators had submitted to the court that their platform was five times more efficient in using scarce spectrum over GSM.

At present, spectrum is allocated in a 2:1 ratio favouring GSM operators.

Sunil Mittal told Business Standard, "I will also write to the PM on these (Tata's) allegations within the next two days as the arguments are wrong".

Asim Ghosh did not comment on his communication to the prime minister.

Ratan Tata, who recently exited the GSM business, had said the present allocation was equivalent to "airlines flying jet aircraft being forced to fly at reduced speed and at lower fuel-guzzling cruising altitudes to protect airlines flying slower, turboprop aircraft".

Ghosh had countered by saying it masked the fact that the government did not tell the airline which aircraft to buy, nor allocate separate air lanes to different operators.

Ghosh said since the government specified the technology for each operator by allotting a specific band along with the licence, it was also obliged to equitably allocate spectrum to ensure fairplay between different technologies.

Sources also added that Ghosh had responded to Tata's questioning the current allocation based on subscriber numbers and also his offer of paying Rs 1,500 crore for spectrum.

"Ghosh said this scarce commodity had always been allotted (if available) on the principle of need only after operators had demonstrated optimal utilisation of existing allotments," sources added.

"He also pointed out that spectrum had never been made available to be purchased and hoarded as a commodity," they added.