When it comes to 3G, Indian Telecom is moving at snail’s pace. TRAI recommendations on 3G and BWA were out late last September, still their is no sight of auction but just hopes. Since TRAI said that 3G was not an extension of 2G, IT Ministry thought of allowing foreign bidders for the scarce spectrum [Indian Military is holding to the overlapping spectrum band and is not vacating the same].
Tata’s who have always opposed DoT and IT Minsitry’s spectrum allocation policy has once again expressed concersns about foreign players being allowed in race for 3G in India. A letter from Tata Teleservices said,
At a minimum, we would expect that the issue of entry of new players, especially from overseas markets is discussed openly. The interests of the existing telecom licence holders, who have done as much to make India the fastest growing telecom market in the world must be protected and a level-playing field provided to them.
I am in total agreement with Tata’s on this issue. Earlier, DoT and IT Ministry had barred Cable TV operators from bidding for 3G spectrum by including a clause that only licensed Telecom Players were eligible, thus shattering Zee’s dream of Mobile TV over 3G. It is unfair to let foreign entities to bid for 3G at this point, when – the spectrum is scarce, existing players have committed billions of dollar and BSNL/MTNL getting easy backdoor entry by matching the second highest bidder in race for 3G gold.
Tags: Mobile India, Telecom India, 3G, Wireless
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