The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has requested the Ministry of Communications and IT to review the reserve price of the spectrum in the 900 MHz band for the forthcoming auctions. The cabinet has fixed a base price of Rs 39.80 billion per MHz of pan-Indian spectrum in the 900 MHz frequency band (excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Jammu & Kashmir circles), which is higher than that suggested by the Telecom Commission. The association has added that reserve price for the spectrum auction in the 900 MHz band in 17 circles has been increased by 32.5 per cent over what was initially recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and this has translated into an increase of Rs 48.80 billion for 5 MHz blocks of spectrum in the 900 MHz band. COAI believes that such a high reserve price would hurt business viability of operators and make it more difficult for them to raise money from the banks.
Meanwhile, COAI has also requested the ministry to ensure at least 15-20 MHz of frequency airwaves in the 2100 MHz band is available for simultaneous auction along with the 900 MHz band in February 2015. The association is of the view that only releasing 5 MHz of spectrum in this band instead of the recommended 20 MHz spectrum will lead to artificial scarcity. This would, in turn, force the operators to increase the prices for accessing data services, which will also hurt growth of mobile broadband services in the country.
