Seeking to assuage fears of the big four mobile service providers, including Bharti, of huge payout for excess spectrum, telecom regulator Trai on Thursday said their outgo would be only about Rs 12,000 crore.
“There is no need for anxiety ... the payout for each of these four companies are not much. As per Trai estimates, Bharti will have to pay Rs 3,498 crore, while Vodafone Essar will have to pay Rs 2,849 crore. For MTNL, it is Rs 2,669 crore and for BSNL it is Rs 3,040 crore,” TRAI chairman, Mr J. S. Sarma, said.
For radiowaves beyond the contracted 6.2 Mhz in their possession, Trai on Tuesday recommended that operators pay a one-time fee based on the prices of 3G spectrum, auction for which is currently on.
Bharti, Vodafone Essar, MTNL and BSNL hold over 6.2 Mhz spectrum in many of the circles. Bharti and Vodafone hold more than 10 MHz in many circles, including Mumbai and New Delhi.
As per Trai proposals, for spectrum between 6.2 Mhz and 8 Mhz, operators have to pay one-time fee discovered by 3G auction. For spectrum 8 Mhz-10 Mhz, the fee 1.3 times of the 3G price.
Mr Sarma said this outgo would also come down if the proposed licence fee of 6 per cent comes into the picture. In that case, the net outgo for Bharti could touch Rs 1,500 crore.
Bharti and Vodafone have termed the Trai proposals as “arbitrary and shocking”. Bharti Airtel said the recommendations are “designed to punish efficient and performing operators like us.
The telecom stocks were battered on stock markets following the TRAI proposals in anticipation of their balance sheets being hit by huge payout by operators.
Responding to reactions of the operators, Mr Sarma said “recommendations are not anti-consumer... there is no impact on prices.”
— PTI
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Spectrum price hits Rs 15,000cr
New Delhi, May 13: The bid for pan-India spectrum for 3G telephony on Thursday crossed Rs 15,000 crore and is still rising.
At Rs 15,001 crore bid price for pan-India spectrum, the government is assured of Rs 60,571 crore revenues as against budgeted estimates of Rs 35,000 crore from sale of air waves for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access put together. On the 29th day of auction sources in the Department of Telecom said the auction may go on for some more days. — PTI