Airtel, Voda, Idea seek finance minister’s help to stop spectrum rejig
05 Jun 2012
India's leading mobile phone service providers, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, have sought finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's intervention to avert an abrupt change in the country's telecom scenario by the reassigning of radio spectrum.
In a letter to the finance minister, heads of the three telecom telecom firms have sought his intervention to ensure that they are not asked to migrate to 1800 MHz spectrum.
They said the reallocation of spectrum if implemented, will result in call rates going up by up to 64 paise a minute.
The TRAI has recommended that existing operators migrate from current 800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum to 1,800 MHz when their permits come up for renewal, at a fee discovered through auction.
''We request your most urgent, personal intervention to ensure that no further decision on refarming 900 Mhz is taken, at the very least until, a thorough consultation is carried out,'' Bharti Airtel CEO (India and South Asia) Sanjay Kapoor, Vodafone India MD and CEO Marten Pieters and Idea Cellular managing director Himanshu Kapania wrote in their letter to the finance minister.
An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) led by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is meeting today to take a final call on key issues of 2G spectrum auction such as pricing and reframing.
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