The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India?s (TRAI) recommendations on Auction of Spectrum continue to draw criticism from the industry.
Prior to this, it was reported that the top executives of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Uninor, Videocon and Idea Cellular, wrote to Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and IT in this context.
It is believed that the correspondence states that the guidelines are ?retrograde? and requests the Minister to reject the same.
The communication also asks the Minister to permit the auctioning of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and the reserve price be reduced by 80 per cent. The operators also reportedly stated that the suggested price of spectrum may lead to a 25-30 per cent increase in call tariffs and that the suggested reserve price for the other bands was quite high and unrealistic.
Another point of contention was TRAI?s suggestion to redistribute spectrum in the 900 MHz band, on grounds that the regulator had not examined the various aspects of this proposal before framing its recommendation. Also, they said that this step may lead to fall in the quality of services and an increase in the price of providing these services.
Thereafter, it has been reported that the Telecom Commission plans to convene to discuss the guidelines.
Meanwhile, Telenor has reportedly said that it will exit the sector if the regulator?s recommendations are accepted by the government.
