Indian Telecom Industry is constantly making headlines and hence compelling us to cover it on our blog site. This time Indian Telecom Regulator (TRAI – Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has come out with a unique decision to charge the operators for the existing spectrum on GSM 900 over and above the 6.2 Mhz. It suggested that a one-time fee be benchmarked against 3G auction pricing.
Bharti, India’s biggest cellco, said the proposals were “shocking, arbitrary and retrograde” and go “against all existing global norms for spectrum allocation and efficiency.”
Vodafone India called the recommendations “opaque, illogical and discriminatory.”
Analysts estimate that Bharti and Vodafone will have to cough up $700 million and $650 million respectively in spectrum charges if the proposal is signed off by the government, said the FE.
The additional burden comes amidst fiercer-than-expected bidding in India’s 3G auctions and the prospect of billions of dollars of 3G rollout costs. Bids for pan-Indian spectrum yesterday reached the $3.21 billion mark, more than twice original estimates of $1.3 billion.
Indian telecom market is continuously making the headlines. Either its because of the record 3G auction or the addition of new subscribers. Indian cellular market continued to add subscribers at a record rate in March, with telecom regulator Trai reporting 20.3 million new additions. Total subscribers reached 584.3 million, an increase of 3.6% from February. Wireless teledensity reached 49.6%, Trai said. Vodafone Essar captured the largest share of the net additions – 17.9% – followed by Reliance with 14.8% and Bharti Airtel with 14.7%.
According to Trai report:
- Total Telephone subscriber base reaches 621.28 Million
- Wireless subscription reaches 584.32 Million
- Wireline subscription remains at 36.96 Million
- 20.31 Million new additions in wireless
- Overall Tele-density reaches 52.74
- Broadband subscription is 8.75 million
Airtel continued to be the market leader overall, serving over one fifth of the nation’s total subscribers. Reliance and Vodafone are vying for second place, with Reliance currently holding a slight lead with 17.5% against Vodafone’s 17.3%. The wireline segment remained flat at just under 40 million subscribers, with state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL counting as customers a combined 84.8% of these. Wireline teledensity stands at just 3.1%, and the nation has just 8.75 million broadband subscribers.
