3G Spectrum. COAI offers mere Rs300 crores
TRAI and the telecom ministry together had put a hefty demand of $2Billion for all India 3G license. COAI represnting the GSM assoication have offered just Rs300 crores($66 Million) for all India 3G license.
Recall that the government wanetd to price the 3G spectrum on the European model of Telecom business. COAI reminds the government that European economies have 33% higher GDP than India and the latter is the cheapest telecom market in India.
“It is therefore submitted that if at all such a benchmark is to be contemplated, it should be adjusted downward based on the ratio of GDP per capita to make the pricing more relevant to the Indian market and environment. This would mean a price of around Rs 300 crore for All India MHz spectrum”, said a COAI letter.
The negotiations table is now split 4 ways as CDMA operators, Tata’s and Reliance are representing in their individual capacities. COAI representing the GSM lobby and the government presiding as the auctioner. Tata’s have offered Rs1500 crores for all India 3G spectrum license though it is not clear about how many MHz channels are requested. While Anil Ambani controlled Reliance Telecom has offered little over Rs1500 crores for all India 3G spectrum and now COAI with ridiculously low bid of just Rs300 crores for an all India footprint.
I had already termed the governments demand of Rs85crores /MHz of spectrum as “Insane” and I stand by it. Tata Indicom and Reliance Telecom are at one end of the spectrum while COAI and the government ar at the other extreme bands of spectrum 
. Where will they converge to realize the convregnce dream of Indians ? Your thoughts.
3G Spectrum Auction, Mobile India , Reliance Telecom
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Just confirmed that, Reliance is offering Rs150 crores for all the circles in Category A and not for individual circles of category A. So thus their total offering for PAN-India 3G license is as low as Rs300 crores.
[...] On one hand the GSM operators are lobbying hard for cheaper 3G entry. On th other hand, Reliance a CDMA operator which feels humiliated by Qualcomm’s indifferent treatment on tax issues has thrown its bid for 3G space in both GSM and CDMA. Enter, third player, the Cable TV Operators of India. They want a slice of 3G spectrum to offer Mobile TV and Broadband and hopefully not IPTV in India. However, for existing cable companies like Asianet in Kerala which also offers Internet may make sense of IPTV offerring. Zee which currently offers Cable TV(Siticable) and Direct To Home (Dish TV India) is the first cable operator to bid for 3G spectrum. They are of the opinion that more cable operators will join the bidding soon. All this implies that the government will be forced to auction the precious spectrum thus leading to a bidding war soon. [...]
[...] This implies a base price of Rs1,050 crores for all India presence above which the auctions will be held. Recall, the GSM association had offered Rs300 crores for the spectrum. The regulator has recommended three sets of frequency bands – 450 mhz, 800 mhz and 2.1 ghz. The allocation of 3G should be treated as a standalone exercise and not as an extension to existing 2G spectrum. Stiff penalty for non-compliance. The 3G services are expected to be available at most places in India by Q2-2007. [...]