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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday announced the much-awaited recommendations for the introduction of faster mobile services. Called 3G (or third generation), the services will enable video streaming and data-intensive services such as stock transactions, e-learning and telemedicine through wireless communications.
The services are expected to be expensive initially, but as competition intensifies and equipment costs fall, 3G services could become relatively cheaper. If things move according to plan, 3G services should be available by June next year, TRAI Chairman Nripendra Misra said here on Wednesday.
Reacting to the TRAI’s recommendations, the Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said the Government would come out with a policy in three months. “We are looking into the details of TRAI’s recommendations and will come out with a formalised report in three months to enable faster roll-out of 3G services in the country,'’ he told newspersons.
Speaking at a seminar earlier in the day, Mr. Maran hoped that the services would be available by the second half of next year. He wanted the 3G spectrum to be priced correctly keeping in mind the scarcity of spectrum and the fiscal deficit
Unveiling the recommendations, Mr. Misra said spectrum constraints would result in about eight operators on an all India basis. The base price for auctioning would be around Rs. 1,400 crore for a country-wide licence. The calculation is based on the base price for the 23 telecom circles — Rs. 80 crore for category `A’ circles and Delhi and Mumbai metros, Rs. 40 crore for category `B’ circles and Chennai and Kolkata metros and Rs. 15 crore for category `C’ circles.
TRAI has recommended the setting up of a National Frequency Management Board to sort out spectrum usage and allocation issues since it is a scarce resource. It also wants the Government to impose a time-bound rural network rollout obligation on the companies to ensure even spread of 3G services all over the country. There should be a stiff penalty for hoarding and non-compliance with rollout obligations.
Operators should be given one year to fulfil their roll out obligations failing which they would be fined with a “spectrum hoarding cess'’ of 2.5 per cent of their winning auction bid per quarter in the next year. If they still fail to rollout, according to the obligation, the spectrum allocations should be cancelled and the spectrum re-allocated to a new player.
The TRAI chief defended the auction method of giving licences and felt that there would not be any irresponsible bidding because the growth trend of 3G services in other countries was known. TRAI had excluded the high allocation prices in Germany and the U.K. while calculating the base auction price for Indian telecom circles. As a result, the base auction price was lower, said Mr. Misra. The regulator has suggested technology neutrality in the field and “since both GSM and CDMA technologies co-exist in India, we would also look into that.'’
