The department of telecom (DoT) has accepted telecom regulator TRAI's proposal to allow operators to provide cellular services using dual technology.
This implies, service providers can offer services on both GSM and CDMA platform. The decision of the DoT's internal panel will now have to be cleared by the full meeting of the Telecom Commission, the apex body that is looking into the regulator's recommendations on licensing reforms.
If the Telecom Commission approves the DoT panel's decision, the move will primarily benefit Reliance Communications, which had applied for pan-India GSM spectrum last year. HFCL has also applied for GSM spectrum in all telecom circles in the country.
RCom had initially planned to launch GSM services on a pan-India level during the current fiscal, but the company was unable to do so as it had not been allocated 2G spectrum since telecom regulator Trai was looking into the issue of use of dual technology.
The catch is that, even after the policy is introduced, RCom and HFCL will now have to join the queue for GSM spectrum. RCom's company's application for GSM spectrum is behind that of existing operators such as Aircel, Idea and Vodafone and Spice Telecom. Switzerland-based ByCell is also ahead of RCom in the queue, followed by Swan Telecom and Cheetah, both of which have been linked to Reliance Communications.
According to sources, the DoT panel has also endorsed TRAI's suggestion that any operator who wants to offer services using alternate technology should pay an upfront fee which equal to the entry fee for UAS license (a pan-India UASL license costs about Rs 1,500 crore).
The DoT panel has also decided for the calculation of spectrum charges, the radio frequencies held by the two licensees will be added and the annual spectrum charge be prescribed on the total spectrum. Besides, the panel has also decided that the revenue share license fee will be calculated based on the combined revenues, sources added.
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