The reserve price for spectrum approved by the cabinet is excessively high: SSTL

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited has termed the government?s decision to set spectrum base price at Rs 140 billion as high.

In a statement, Vsevolod Rozanov, President and chief executive officer, SSTL has said, ?Given the realistic sectoral environment and market dynamics, I believe that the reserve price for spectrum as approved by the cabinet is excessively high. There is no rationale to support why the 800 MHz CDMA spectrum should be priced 1.3 times more than the GSM 1800 MHz spectrum. It is significant to note that the GSM spectrum being put up for auction is liberalized whereas the 800 MHz CDMA spectrum continues to be non liberalised. The Honorable Supreme Court in its February 2, 2012 order had directed that true market price of the spectrum should be discovered through auction. Hence, the reserve price for spectrum should be Rs 16.58 billion and any change in this pricing contradicts the spirit of the same order.?

According to Rozanov, SSTL that being a pure play CDMA operator, its legal case is significantly different compared to other mobile operators. To protect the interest of more than 16 million customers, 3500 employees, universe of 300,000 retailers and investments of over $ 3.1 billion, SSTL has filed a curative petition before the Supreme Court, hoping  that the highest court of the land will look into the merits of SSTL’s case and will give us justice.