The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended the plan to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in an attempt to make the auction fairer.
Compared to the demand of 3G spectrum among the GSM operators, CDMA players’ requirement for the third generation radio frequencies is much lower because of the smaller number of players. Rcom and TTSL are the only players expected to participate in the 3G auction.
In contrast, there will be tough competition in the GSM auction, with five existing players. Apart from the incumbent telcos, a good number of foreign and new companies are also planning to enter the booming telecom market through the 3G auction.
The 3G auction guidelines laid down earlier by the DoT say that 5MHz of 3G spectrum will be allotted to the successful bidders in the 2.1GHz band, whereas CDMA players will be given only 1.25MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band. That implies that CDMA players will only get a quarter of the 3G airwaves compared to GSM players. Hence, the telcos in the CDMA space will have only 25 per cent of the highest GSM bid.
TRAI is batting for a simultaneous auction for both platforms. CDMA players have been asking for a specific date for the auction.
A senior DoT official told IT Examiner, “The communications ministry has not yet taken a call on the matter, but we will look into it minutely.” Trai declined to comment .