RCOM has written to DoT proposing that mobile operators with over 6.2 MHz of spectrum surrender the surplus.

RCOM has written to DoT proposing that mobile operators with over 6.2 MHz of spectrum surrender the surplus. RCOM’s move follows a communication from Vodafone Essar to DoT, pointing out that in the present levy regime, some players pay a higher fee on a per-MHz basis for spectrum and this fee should be equalised in order to ensure efficient utilisation of a scarce resource. According to Vodafone, players like Bharti are paying up to 800 per cent more than RCOM and TTSL per MHz of spectrum. However, RCOM points out that those service providers have been in operation for almost 15 years and have higher revenues from their GSM services.

Hence, later entrants (like RCOM), which have lower revenues, should be required to pay lower spectrum charges.