Telecom Lead
India: CII said reserve price for spectrum auction is extremely high and will
hurt national interest, inclusive growth and will be detrimental to the growth
of the telecom industry.
At present juncture, the auction of only 2G spectrum should be considered to
comply with the Supreme Court’s decision.
“The reserve price for the auction of spectrum as recommended by Trai is
extremely high, which will hurt the overall national interests, inclusive
growth and will be detrimental for the growth of the industry particularly the
expansion of telecom and broadband services in the rural areas,” said CII
in a statement.
TRAI has suggested a base price of Rs 3,622 crore for one MHz. This is around
10 times higher than the price at which 2G licences were allocated in 2008
during the tenure of the then Telecom Minister A Raja.
CII said TRAI’s views on reserve price do not appear to be based on realistic
techno-economic principles.
Spectrum should be made available at a reasonable price to ensure mobile phone
tariffs continue to be affordable for the socio-economic benefits and inclusive
growth.
CII has suggested the spectrum auctions be appropriately designed to serve the
overall national and societal interests.
The industry strongly feels that once the full market value for spectrum has
been extracted by the Government through an open market auction, there is no
justification for any further roll out obligations, according to CII.
All available spectrum should be made open for upcoming auctions to avoid any
artificial scarcity. If necessary, some spectrum should be released from other
existing users.
TRAI recommendation on deferred payment seems appropriate and may be accepted
by the Government considering the current financial constraints of the telecom
industry.
