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DoT ditches the 3G Auction for CDMA Players, new policy to decide their future
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If all the recent activity, that’s happening with India’s Telecom Market, is any indication, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has surely been busy with their decision making abilities. India’s ever increasing mobile market, which saw a remarkable growth of (upto) 9 million in the month of June, has been lagging behind when it comes to mobile internet technologies. While the world is happily surfing streaming media and mobile TV content, parts of India are yet to see EDGE on their networks while the subscribers in the major metros of the country have to be content with EDGE speeds on their mobile phones.
DoT’s recently announced 3G policy comes as a ray of hope, bringing the technology even more closer to reality. However, not everyone is happy in the telecom land. It seems that the major GSM players will get to dance in the sun, while the CDMA operators wait in the dark alleys. Preferential treatment by DoT? Not really. Unfortunately, there is no spectrum available to  allocate for the CDMA players. As a result, the DoT has now taken a bold decision and apparently decided to scrap the auction for the 3G spectrum for the CDMA players.
Does this mean it is the end of the road for the 71 million CDMA subscribers in the country? Not at all. The DoT is quickly planning to bring out a fresh new policy exclusively for the country’s major CDMA players viz. Reliance, Tata, Shyam Telelink and State-owned BSNL. Though it may not be the end of the road, the subscribers will sure need to wait a while longer compared to the GSM counterparts.
The CDMA players will be relying on the EVDO technology for its 3G services which operates best in the 800Mhz or 1900Mhz frequency band, the GSM players will ride the back of the WCDMA technology which works best in the 2.1Ghz frequency band. The 3G auction, which is planned to take place soon, would be the auction for spectrum in the 2.1Ghz band since the DoT’s newly drafted policy made no mention of any bandwidth available in the 800Mhz band. Interestingly, all the four CDMA players have some excess spectrum in the same frequency band, which is currently utilized by them to provide 2G services to the subscribers. While the players are willing to use some of the spectrum for 3G, the DoT has refused them to do so, citing that it will disturb the playing field with the GSM players.
Even with the new policy which is being planned for these CDMA players, the DoT will still have a tough time making decisions. Apparently, there are only 2 slots available in the 800Mhz band, while the DoT has 4 key players to accommodate. The new policy is currently pending an approval from the Ministry of Communication.
At the same time, the Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI), a collective CDMA lobby, has written to the Prime Minister of India proposing that a one-time fee be levied on cellular service providers who hold excess spectrum in the country. The same has been proposed by Samajwadi Party leader, Mr. Amar Singh. On the other hand, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has written to the Prime Minister saying that a cap on the spectrum allocation was only applicable for new players who receive initial start-up spectrum. If the AUSPI has it their way, two of the leading operators in the country will have to empty their pockets shelling out upto a few thousand crores, while the government is expected to make nearly Rs. 10,000 crores.
The other thing that’s keeping the DoT busy is the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) issue. Neglecting the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s recommendation of having only one centralized player, the DoT now plans to rope in two major players for the implementation service. Mobile Number Portability, once implemented, will allow any subscriber to change his service provider, without having to let go of his mobile number. MNP has already been successfully implemented in various countries across the world. DoT has planned the implementation of the service in the country’s metros by the end of the year.
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