New Delhi: The country's largest state-run
telecom firm, BSNL, has favoured a no-cap policy on the number
of players in a service area but said if spectrum and licences
are bundled together, as is the current practice, then there
should be minimum 5 players to ensure fair competition.
The country's largest GSM player, Bharti Airtel, wants
minimum number of telecom operators, including BSNL/MTNL, in a
given service area should not less than four.
The PSU, which is in full support of delinking spectrum
from the Unified Access System (UAS), said, "If it is decided
not to delink spectrum from UAS licence, the regulatory and
licensing environment must ensure that there are at least five
access service providers in each service area to ensure fair
and adequate competition.
"However, there should not be any limit or cap on the
maximum number of access service providers, which may be left
to be determined by the market forces and availability of
adequate spectrum," it said in response to TRAI on 'overall
spectrum management and review of licence terms and
conditions.
The PSU has said UAS licence should be delinked from the
spectrum with immediate effect, which is in line with the
recommendations given by the Authority from time to time and a
DoT panel has also recommended the same.
UAS licence permits the operator to provide any type of
telecommunication access services -- whether it is basic, 2G
mobile, 3G mobile, ISP, BWA. The licensee, if so desires, can
acquire the spectrum at the market determined price and
provide the wireless services.
Alternately, it can focus on deployment of wireline
networks, which will propel the growth of Internet.
"BSNL is not at all in favour of not to delink the
spectrum from UAS License," the PSU said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 15, 2009, 12:35