Reliance Communications may soon get the go ahead from the ministry of communications to expand its GSM footprint to cities like Delhi, Mumbai and other states.
A key component of this clearance would be the allocation of spectrum in the 1,800 Mhz band, as sought by the company. However, it is unlikely to be asked to vacate its existing CDMA spectrum.
A senior communications ministry functionary told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday there is no question of asking Reliance Communications to vacate its CDMA spectrum to switch over to GSM.
"The company can operate on both technology platforms and provide services simultaneously on GSM and CDMA. State telecom operators BSNL and MTNL are already offering services based on both the technologies in the same circles. DoT aims to accommodate more mobile service providers, not to restrict them", he added.
It may be recalled that on June 14, the DoT had asked Reliance Communications to submit additional details on its GSM plans. The company had sought GSM spectrum wherever it is available in the country.
Since then, the company is in discussions with DoT on the issue. The company says that there is no question of completely switching over or migrating to GSM from CDMA.
It adds that GSM can be an option to increase market penetration and coverage in the coming days as this technology provides a more affordable option for people wanting plain vanilla voice services.
It had 2.1 million GSM subscribers and 2.5 million CDMA subscribers as of 31 May this year. It runs GSM networks in the North East, Kolkata, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar.
Meanwhile, the communications ministry will soon roll out the shared passive mobile infrastructure project in rural areas.
"The project for shared infrastructure for mobile roll out in rural areas will be launched shortly", communications minister Dayanidhi Maran said in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Speaking at a telecom industry meeting on shared mobile infrastructure, minister for urban development Jaipal Reddy said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Department of Telecom to make the process of shared infrastructure simple and mandatory.
A detailed exercise is being undertaken to identify villages in the rural and remote areas which are not covered with wireless services. Between 8000 to 10,000 towers are likely to be set up and almost 85 per cent of the country will have wireless coverage after the completion of the project.
Maran unveiled six cellsites located in various parts of Delhi established on sharing basis as a part of Project MOST -- Mobile Operators Shared Towers. These prototype sites would be replicated in other parts of the country, he added.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meet, Aditya Birla Nuvo Managing Director Sanjiv Aga said the company is looking at coming up with an IPO and would like to off load 35 per cent to investors at some point of time.
"At some point of time the company would go public," he said. It plans to roll out services in three new circles -- Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Eastern UP in the next few months, besides Mumbai for which it has already applied to DoT.
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