According to Goolam Essaji Vahanvati, the attorney general of India only existing GSM operators should pay the auction-determined fee for the additional spectrum (beyond the 6.2 MHz), held by them.
Vahanvati has opposed the Department of Telecommunications? (DoT) proposal to ask all the operators to match the upcoming auction-determined price for the entire spectrum that they currently hold.
The attorney general of India has suggested that only existing GSM operators like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India should pay the auction-determined fee for the additional spectrum and the fee should be charged retrospectively from July 2008.
According to DoT, its proposal to ask incumbent operators to pay auctioned-determined price prospectively would provide a level playing field to both the existing as well as the new players. However, Vahanvati disagrees with DoT?s proposal on the grounds that a level-playing field cannot be created by making changes in the existing licence agreements of the incumbent players.
