TDSAT upholds right of CDMA operators to enter GSM field

Trashing the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to prevent mobile service providers on the CDMA platform from offering the GSM service as well, the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal on Tuesday upheld the government's decision to allow the use of dual technology by CDMA operators.

The TDSAT decision should help Anil Ambani's Reliance-ADAG Group company Reliance Communications, as well as Tata Telecommunications. Both of them offer CDMA mobile services, and have been allotted spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications to start GSM services as well.

Disposing of a petition filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India, the representative body of GSM service providers, challenging the government's decision, the TDSAT also said that GSM operators have no right to get spectrum (radio frequency) beyond 6.2 MHz.

TDSAT held that there was nothing irregular in the grant of 4.4 MHz start-up spectrum to companies for GSM service. It added that there is nothing in national telecom policy 1999 or licence conditions to support the GSM companies' contention that they have vested rights in up to 15 MHz of spectrum.

''We hold that the TRAI was wrong in arriving at revised subscriber norms based on a theoretical simulation and that too, without an opportunity being given to all stakeholders to debate the issue,'' TDSAT said in its judgment on a petition filed by the GS M players' lobby COAI challenging the TRAI norms.

On a related issue, the TDSA slammed TRAI for recommending subscriber-linked criteria for allocating additional spectrum. ''We hold that in arriving at the subscriber linked criteria, TRAI failed to observe the principle of transparency. It is expected from an institution like the TRAI to follow a uniform procedure while making recommendations. It cannot choose the procedure to suit its convenience,'' the tribunal observed.

The DoT had implemented TRAI norms as an interim measure and had formed a committee last year to study the existing norms, as well the regulator's recommendations and the method suggested by the Telecom Engineering Consultants (TEC). TDSAT directed the government to appropriately revise the TRAI norms within one month.

The tribunal has also asked the government not to give any preferential treatment to MTNL and BSNL in allocating the spectrum.

The judgment is also critical of TRAI's recommendations that there should be no cap on the number of service providers and this should be left to market forces. The tribunal advised DoT to review the policy keeping in view the relevant parameters. Earlier, DoT had publicly criticised TRAI for making this recommendation, which tied its hands from holding an auction of 2G spectrum.