Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) secretary Rakesh Garg to allocate CDMA spectrum 800 MHz as E-GSM (extended GSM) band.

The telecom industry association says the demand for 900MHz is much higher than 800MHz. If the telecom department accepts the suggestion of COAI, which represents telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, etc. it will be a death knell for CDMA players such as MTS India (Sistema Shyam TeleServices).

MTS India has already indicated that the current spectrum pricing is substantially higher and against the interest of the growth of the telecom sector.

“The demand for 900MHz is admittedly much higher than 800MHz and CDMA operators also aspire to acquire 900MHz. It will be a sensible decision, both technically and economically, to harmonize the vacant 800MHz spectrum, refarm it to E-GSM band and auction it as 900MHz band,” said  COAI director general Rajan S. Mathews.

The letter said that given the higher appetite or demand for 900MHz, the reconfiguration of the available 800 MHz spectrum will not only increase the availability of spectrum in the 900 MHz band but will also lead to more efficient use of spectrum.

“It will also benefit the government through revenue generation and also help increase the broadband penetration in the country. There will be no impact on the existing CDMA operations as they can continue providing the services with the allocated spectrum,” the letter stated.

In the auction held in November 2012 in 800 MHz band, there was no bidder for spectrum and only one telecom service provider bought this spectrum in the March 2013 auction.

COAI has made several representations to the government to reconfigure the existing 800MHz band and offer it as E-GSM/ E-900MHz as it will result in far more efficient utilization of spectrum in the 800 MHz band.

It will also be in line with international practices and this spectrum will be used for growth of broadband and will maximize overall revenue for the exchequer in the long run.

“We thus once again request the government to auction 800 MHz band for E-GSM. The 800 MHz band accounts for nearly half of the spectrum available for commercial use in the sub-1 GHz band. Putting this spectrum to the most optimal use should be a policy priority,” the letter said.

IANS