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Operators oppose TRAI-TEC report

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: After the government rained strict guidelines on the telecom licenses and spectrum allocation in the last several weeks, the opposing telecom operators have finally voiced against the regulations on Monday.

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Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD, Bharti Airtel in a presentation to the telecom panel opined with facts and figures that the TRAI and the TEC recommendations on spectrum allocation norms to be scientifically incorrect.

“We have challenged the recommendations submitted by TRAI and TEC on hiking the subscriber linked spectrum allocation. We have challenged the norms with evidence and data. We are aware about running the networks,” Mittal said.

“Ignorance cannot be used to change norms,” Mittal added.

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The operators in a meeting with the members of the telecom panel, looking into spectrum allocation norms, raised objection against hiking the subscriber-linked criteria recommended by the Telecom Engineering Center (TEC).

The telecom chiefs met the telecom panel individually. Vodafone chief Arun Sarin and Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani also held meeting with the panel.

Sarin did not divulge details on the meeting.

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Last week, Ambani wrote to the Prime Minister asking the government to rework the policy for distribution of airwaves and seek a refund of the excess frequency that has been distributed to GSM players.

The government constituted the telecom panel after the operators objected to the TEC and the TRAI report on subscriber-linked criteria for spectrum allocation.

New licenses as per existing norms

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Meanwhile telecom minister A Raja has said that new telecom licenses would be issued as per the existing policy, which does not put any restriction on the number of operators. “We are going to issue new licenses as per the new policy framed in 2003 by the Group of Ministers (GoM) which stated that Unified Access Service (UAS) licenses will be given without any restriction,” Raja said at the Lok Sabha today.

Raja also said that the government has not constituted any GoM to finalize a new spectrum policy.

“However, a GoM has been constituted on vacation of spectrum and raising resources for the purpose under the chairmanship of External Affairs Minister,” he said.

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