COAI sees 515 Mhz freed from 144 GSM licence cancellations

New Delhi: Fresh questions are being raised about the GSM spectrum which Tata Teleservices was allotted in 2008 by former telecom minister A Raja.

GSM telcos’ lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) today said in a statement that its stand on the matter has been upheld by the Supreme Court and that all 514.8 mhz of spectrum which was released when the SC cancelled licenses can now be put for auction.

[caption id=“attachment_659400” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Tata Teleservices’ stand has been that since it got its licence much before 2008. Reuters[/caption]

“The Hon’ble Supreme Court on Wednesday acknowledged COAI’s prayer and disposed of the writ petition (No.408 of 2012) filed by COAI, thereby enabling the auction of the entire quantum of quashed spectrum i.e. 514.8 MHz. This would essentially comprise of the entire spectrum withdrawn by the government in lieu of the 144 cancelled licences as per the Supreme Court’s order dated 2nd Feb 2012,” COAI said.

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The SC order of February 2012 did not specify how many licenses were to be cancelled nor did it name operators whose licences were to be cancelled and this created confusion over whether Tata Tele’s spectrum allocation was also to be cancelled or not.

Tata Teleservices’ stand has been that since it got its licence much before 2008 and was merely allotted GSM spectrum after January 10, 2008, the SC order of February 2012 does not apply to it. Anyhow, most of the players who got licences in 2008 and later lost these have already shut shop. Concerned over the ambiguity over Tata Tele’s spectrum, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has also recently sought legal opinion on whether or not to scrap the permit given to the company in 2008.

COAI expressed its satisfaction at the SC ruling today with Director General Rajan S Mathews saying “This brings clarity on the issue and is a welcome move for an industry which faces acute shortage of spectrum and is below par in terms of availability and utilisation of the precious resource on an international scale.

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Freeing up the spectrum would enable better quality, outreach and delivery of services to the consumers. It will also ensure that a valuable resource like spectrum is used optimally and does not lie unused and wasted.