Mumbai, Feb 10: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has expressed shock and dismay over Department of Telecommunications' (DOT) move to curb the powers of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).According to the association, at a time when the cellular industry is battling serious problems like project viability and cash flow, the move could derail liberalisation process in the telecom sector.
"TRAI has not even completed a year and DOT can't live with another centre of power," said COAI executive vice chairman TV Ramachandran. He added that at a time when there is a need to further strengthen TRAI's powers, DoT is contemplating curtailing it. "If licensing is taken out of TRAI's purview, it will mean that the regulatory body will have no role as almost everything is covered under the licence agreement," Birla AT&T chief executive Rajan Mathews said.
According to COAI, the move could affect investment decisions not only in the telecom sector but also in other areas. "It can have anegative impact on the country's liberalisation process since such actions can be taken in other sectors too," said Ramachandran.
While expressing shock over the DoT move, COAI also reiterated its demands for extension of licence period from 10 years to 15 years or more and a two year moratorium on the payment of licence fees.
"While there are about 800,000 cellular subscribers in the country, in real terms they are worth only half their number as the billing per subscriber is about 40-50 per cent lower than projections," Ramachandran said.
At present, the average air time usage per subscriber per month is about 140-150 minutes in the metros and lower in the circles. "The average usage per subscriber is falling as more and more subscribers in the lower-end take up to cellular," Ramachandran said, adding that there was a need to have increased usage rather than more subscribers.
According to COAI, there was also a severe limitation of availability of spectrum band. "At present only 6.2 Mhz for metrooperators and 4.4 Mhz for circle operators is available. This should be increased to better our network planning," Modicorp chief executive (telecom) Umang Das said. He added the government should provide at least 15 Mhz in the 1800 Mhz band.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
