AUSPI supports refarming of spectrum; Telecom Commission meets today

The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), a representative body of industry members like Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices Ltd, would support the telecom regulator's recommendation of refarming of spectrum held by incumbent operators.

"Even though we are beneficiary of 800 MHz band, we fully support the refarming proposed by TRAI. Simultaneously, we request and demand that TRAI recommendation on refarming of 900 MHz should be accepted by government as soon as possible," AUSPI president Madhav Joshi said.

"Our association has done lot of work right from 2007 at our own expenses for trials in 1900 MHz band but because of pressure of GSM lobby those trials were ignored by government," he added.

This draws a clear divide, as the other operators' body, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), had opposed the redistribution of already existing spectrum held by its members. COAI had earlier said that the 'refarming' would lead to destruction of capital and forced obsolescence of infrastructure, while TRAI had refused to address the issue and maintained its earlier position.

The Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body of the telecom ministry, is meeting on 24 May to decide on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's proposal on spectrum pricing and allocation.

Most industry players, including Airtel and Vodafone, have opposed TRAI's recommendation that spectrum held by incumbent operators in the 900 MHz band be re-farmed or redistributed amongst all operators through auctions, when mobile licences of these firms come up for renewal from 2014.