India's five mobile phone companies including Bharti Airtel on Friday accused the telecom regulator of issuing a 'highly retrograde set of recommendations on spectrum auctions' and demanded that communications minister Kapil Sibal reject all key proposals suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Using unusually harsh language, the chief executives of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Uninor and Videocon warned Sibal that accepting the regulator's 'flawed, retrograde, regressive and uncertain recommendations would irretrievably harm consumer interests, ring the death knell for the sector and lead to prolonged disputes and litigation.'.In their joint communication, Bharti Airtel CEO for India and South Asia, Sanjay Kapoor, Vodafone India MD and CEO Marten Pieters, Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania, Uninor chief executive Sigve Brekke and Videcon Telecommunications' director and CEO Arvind Ball, demanded that all airwaves in the 1800 MHz band be put up for auctions, and the reserve price be slashed by 80% to allow the market to discover the 'true' price.They also warned that high spectrum costs would lead to a 25-30% hike in call rates. Earlier this week, Trai had proposed that mobile phone companies that lost their permits after the Supreme Court cancelled licences awarded in the scandal-tainted 2008 sale, as well as incumbents and other new entrants pay a minimum Rs 3,622.18 crore for every unit of 2G spectrum in the upcoming auctions.
Monday, April 30, 2012
TRAI's spectrum auction proposal can raise tariff by 30 per cent, warn telcos
India's five mobile phone companies including Bharti Airtel on Friday accused the telecom regulator of issuing a 'highly retrograde set of recommendations on spectrum auctions' and demanded that communications minister Kapil Sibal reject all key proposals suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). Using unusually harsh language, the chief executives of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Uninor and Videocon warned Sibal that accepting the regulator's 'flawed, retrograde, regressive and uncertain recommendations would irretrievably harm consumer interests, ring the death knell for the sector and lead to prolonged disputes and litigation.'.In their joint communication, Bharti Airtel CEO for India and South Asia, Sanjay Kapoor, Vodafone India MD and CEO Marten Pieters, Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania, Uninor chief executive Sigve Brekke and Videcon Telecommunications' director and CEO Arvind Ball, demanded that all airwaves in the 1800 MHz band be put up for auctions, and the reserve price be slashed by 80% to allow the market to discover the 'true' price.They also warned that high spectrum costs would lead to a 25-30% hike in call rates. Earlier this week, Trai had proposed that mobile phone companies that lost their permits after the Supreme Court cancelled licences awarded in the scandal-tainted 2008 sale, as well as incumbents and other new entrants pay a minimum Rs 3,622.18 crore for every unit of 2G spectrum in the upcoming auctions.
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