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As spectrum is scarce, the camp that gets more will grow & also limit the other’s expansion
When things get though and the lobbyist can’t get his way. Technology comes to the rescue. Technology helps him obfuscate facts, twist numbers and figures and shift the debate in anybody’s favour.
Successful lobbyists have done this over years, hoodwinking courts, government and bureaucrats the world over. Currently, two opposing users of technology are using every trick in the book to wrest what can be called a national resource from the government.
Radio frequency spectrum is a national resource which is limited, and how the government uses it will determine how much teledensity is reached through the wireless route in India. Now, the two lobbies – CDMA and GSM telephone networks operators – are at loggerheads to see which camp gains the most. The spectrum is limited and determines the capacity of operators to serve more subscribers. The camp which succeeds and is able to get more spectrums will not only be able to grow but will be able to limit the future expansion of the other camp in the long run.
The GSM lobby says it has been using spectrum more efficiently as it has more cell sites, so if the government wants to meet its target of teledensity it should allot further spectrum to GSM operators.
The CDMA lobby, which started this debate, got spectrum allotted by stating that their technology is a much more efficient user of the spectrum. The realty lies somewhere in between.
First of all number of cell sites or the lack of them is not a direct reflection of the efficiency of use of spectrum, as the GSM operators would like to propound. Both technologies use the spectrum in different manners, moreover their cell sites and the number of subscribers they serve also varies. Second, CDMA is not necessarily the most efficient user of spectrum, its efficiency is related to topography and peaks and erodes with rising subscriber base. Code Division Multiplex Access (CDMA) technology which means that it is a broadcast technology which is encrypted. The broadcast can only be decoded by the user for when it is intended. As CDMA uses a broadcast over the whole spectrum allotted to it, it is perceived to be a more efficient user of the spectrum, says Dr Eshwar Pittampalli, Bell Laboratory Research fellow. Now because the signal is coded for each subscriber, the number of subscribers that each cell site in CDMA supports is generally larger, which gives rise to the claim that it is the more efficient user of the spectrum. In CDMA, the broadcast from the base station is not limited by distance and loses its power only with natural barriers or other radio interference.
GSM base station at the cell sites use only a portion of the spectrum allotted to them and can cover a limited distance. When the number of subscribers increases in a geographic area, GSM operators increases the number of cell sites. To avoid interference among the cell sites it limits the distance each one covers. GSM operators can keep increasing the number of cell sites as long as they don’t create interference with each other. As it is able to limit the distance covered and uses only a portion of the spectrum it has far greater flexibility and can use larger number of cell sites in a single location.
When the number of subscribers go up for a CDMA operator in a geographical location, he can also increase the number of cell sites. The biggest limitation in increasing cell sites for a CDMA operator is interference with other cell sites. As CDMA uses uses broadcast and is not limited by distance, and he cannot alter the distance of its base station he cannot add as many cell sites as a GSM operator.
CDMA operators after they reach saturation in an area cannot always grow by adding another cell site. The peak number of cell sites and subscribers is reached faster by a CDMA operator the only way left from him is to get additional frequency in the spectrum allotted.
Now, if beyond a point a CDMA operator cannot grow if he does not get spectrum. And if he is allotted that spectrum it is taking away growth from the GSM operator, the government needs to move beyond technology. Other countries’ experience with spectrum has been more technology neutral and sometimes tilted in favour of earning maximum capital out of it. In India, this issue has never been raised to that level. Micromanagement of the spectrum allotment harks back to license raj of control for capacity expansion. An auction of the spectrum frequency will determine the right price.
