DoT allocates 3G with amended licence rules

September 01, 2010 10:31 pm | Updated 10:31 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday started allocating 3G spectrum to telecom operators, giving relief to all the seven companies that emerged successful in the intense bidding process that took place in May this year. But DoT has made some changes in the licence terms to ensure speedy roll-out of 3G networks and also efficient use of scarce spectrum. DoT has said that operators were authorised to use the spectrum for 20 years from September 1, 2010, even if their telecom licences expired before that period.

DoT has also imposed roll-out obligation under which the operators will have to cover at least 90 per cent of the service areas in the metro circles and at least 50 per cent in most of the other circles within the next five years. If the operators failed to achieve the roll-out obligations, they would be given extension for one more year after paying 2.5 per cent of the spectrum acquisition charge per quarter.

Similarly, each licensee will also have to pay the annual licence fee as share of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from the services using 3G spectrum. In the case of two companies merging, only one slot of spectrum can be retained, according to the amended rules. The operators will also have to pay the upward revised spectrum usage charges ranging between 3 per cent and 8 per cent depending on the quantum of spectrum held by them.

Besides State-owned BSNL and MTNL, seven private operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, Aircel and STel — have got 3G spectrum. The Centre had got Rs.67,000 crore through the 3G spectrum auction — Rs.51,000 crore from private operators and Rs.16,000 crore from the two telecom PSUs.

In the two metros — Delhi and Mumbai — three operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications — had emerged winners, while no operator could bag pan-India spectrum in the auction.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.