Reliance Jio accuses COAI of malafide intention.
Taking the government head on, four GSM mobile operators -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Spice -- have decided to "unitedly" approach the Delhi High Court against telecom tribunal TDSAT's interim order not to stay the spectrum allocation process.
Ambani termed COAI's appeal to the telecom tribunal against the government granting RCom dual-use technology (CDMA and GSM) as "unnecessary and unwarranted". RCom, the country's largest provider of CDMA mobile services, recently received permission to start GSM services under its existing licence for which it paid a fee of Rs 1,651 crore (Rs 16.51 billion).
Two regional CDMA players - HFCL in Punjab and Shyam Telecom in Rajasthan - have deposited fee for their GSM spectrum as per the dual technology permitted by the government. HFCL deposited Rs 151.75 crore (Rs 1.51 billion) for Punjab circle, while Shyam gave about Rs 32 crore for the Rajasthan circle.
The CDMA and GSM operators in the country are at loggerheads once again, this time over the implementation of mobile number portability.
The COAI decision comes in the wake of Anil Ambani group company Reliance Communications and two other CDMA players receiving approvals to offer GSM services in their respective circles of operation from the Department of Telecom on Friday.
It means a CDMA players like Reliance can also operate GSM services and get the required spectrum from the government within the same licence. Earlier, they were allowed spectrum either for CDMA or for GSM within the licence. However, now they have to pay an amount equal to the entry fee of a UASL licence (over Rs 1,680 crore for a pan-India licence) to get the spectrum as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
The company said it becomes the first operator in the country to partner with Twitter on the new 'Twitter Access' programme.
With a sharp spurt in growth, the GSM industry has witnessed the highest ever subscriber additions in September at 4.4 million, taking the cellular subscriber base to 91 million.
Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications have said that they had been denied extra spectrum even as the old GSM operators like Bharti, Vodafone and Idea were been allocated excess spectrum in many circles.
Official sources said plans had been on for production at local units, and the manufacturing would be done from the company's Chennai facility.
The average revenue per user, an indicator of revenues for telecom service providers, of GSM operators has declined, while that of CDMA operators is on the rise.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Communication and other GSM telephone operators owe government over Rs 451 crore (Rs 4.51 billion) in license fee and spectrum charges, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
After tariffs war, GSM operators are now experimenting with the pricing of value-added services such as downloads of mobile games in 2007.
The top three operators - Airtel, Vodafone and Idea - which account for over 67 per cent of the GSM market, lost over 2.17 million users in September.
The Telecom Engineering Centre, the technical wing of the DoT, has submitted its much-awaited report on spectrum allocation to the Member (Technology) of the Telecom Commission. The report, which is the last hope for GSM-based players for additional spectrum allocation, is believed to have gone along with the TRAI's recommendation of increasing subscriber base for awarding additional radio waves.
Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel retained the top rank with a market share of 33.21 per cent and a total user base of 77.48 million. Vodafone-Essar added 1.87 million and maintained a market share of 23.41 per cent. COAI, which does not include Reliance Telecom, estimates RT added at least 370,000 subscribers in the month,
The government has accepted Telecom Engineering Centre's report that has suggested tough norms for spectrum allocation to GSM operators, a move that may make it difficult for players like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to get additional frequency.
The lobby group of CDMA mobile players like the Reliance Communications and the Tatas has accused that the government was favouring the GSM players while deciding the criteria for spectrum allocation and in its pricing.
In contrast to the stand by GSM operators, CDMA players like RCom and Tatas hailed telecom regulator TRAI for its "balanced, progressive and transparent" spectrum proposals.
In his letter dated October 19, Anil Ambani points out that while the top three GSM players -- Bharti, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular -- have acquired an additional 52 million subscribers in the past few years without allocation of any additional spectrum, something they have constantly told the government that they do not have sufficiently.
Idea Cellular, the GSM service provider of the Aditya Birla group, has roped in global telecom major Ericsson as equipment supplier for its GSM network in the Mumbai circle.
Nokia has retained the top slot in Indian GSM market with 79 per cent share, while US giant Motorola has more than doubled its share to seven per cent this year, according to a study.
In a blow to GSM operators, who have been demanding that auditor CAG be stopped from vetting their account books, tribunal TDSAT has declined an interim relief, saying it had no powers to intervene.
GSM mobile service providers are opposing an 11-digit mobile numbering proposal on grounds that it would inconvenience the country's 390 million subscribers. They are also seeking to end the exclusive two-digit operator code provided to three service providers.
British Telecom of the UK is considering a low-powered global system for mobile communications service in India, which can bring down the costs significantly on calls made by mobile phones inside offices.
BPL Telecom, the first Indian company to manufacturer cell phones, on Wednesday announced the all India launch of a series of GSM models and said it was in talks with Intel India to manufacture hi-fi handsets on contract basis for the US market.
The state-owned MTNL on Wednesday announced expansion of its GSM cellular capacity by an additional four lakh lines each in Delhi and Mumbai, from the current 2.25 lakh lines each in the two metros.
GSM industry's subscribers base has added 6.19 million users in January 2008, taking their total mobile subscriber base to 178.4 million.
Anil Ambani is eyeing the fast-growing GSM-based service with massive expansion plans in eight circles at an estimated investment of Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion).
New telecom operators such as Swan, Unitech, Datacom and Loop, and Reliance Communications have asked regulator Trai to reduce the termination charges, while existing GSM players, led by Bharti, want the 30 paise per minute charge to continue.
The GSM-based mobile subscriber base has gone up by 15.08 lakh
Datacom Solutions, promoted by consumer electronic goods maker Videocon Industries, is close to roping in South African telecom major MTN group as a partner for its GSM foray in the country. According to sources, Datacom, which was scouting for a partner to bring in investments and technology, has short-listed MTN. Discussions with the South African company are in the final stage and a deal is expected to be signed soon.
The company said with the pack, customers can access data at Rs 10 per MB on international roaming while the base tariff is Rs 614.4 per MB. Outgoing voice calls to India can be made for Rs 40 per minute as compared to the base tariff of Rs 165 per minute.
In a strong pitch for limiting cut-throat competition, GSM operators have urged the government to limit the number of telecom operators per circle.
Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL) has dissociated itself from the GSM lobby's stance on spectrum, stating there is no merit in the demand for additional spectrum.
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