India’s largest private telecom firm Bharti airtel on Wednesday said the new telecom policy (NTP) 2011 must ensure sustainability and profitability of the operators in the sector.
“We clearly expect that the policy that will come out on telecom will ensure sustainability, profitability and well being of the industry,” Bharti Airtel CEO Mr Sanjay Kapoor told reporters here. The policy should bring in a level-playing field as well, he added.
While announcing the plans to frame a new policy, Telecom Minister Mr Kapil Sibal had said that three factors would be kept in mind —- one, the Government gets it revenues, two, operators don’t make supernormal profits and three, tariffs remain affordable.
Last week, the minister changed the spectrum allocation policy and delinked it from licences.
The NTP 2011, which is expected to be adopted later this year, is also expected to charge the operators for additional spectrum at market-linked prices.
The contract limit of spectrum has also been reduced to 4.4 Mhz for new operators, while for the old operators the limit has been retained at 6.2 Mhz.
“We look forward to more spectrum. This is a spectrum hungry industry and given the demand for data the world over, I think much more spectrum will be required. We are absolutely looking forward to a regime where more and more spectrum will be available,” he said.
Asked what action the company will take if it is charged the one-time fee, Mr Kapoor said, “If it is charged, then obviously it has to be accounted for.”
Telecom regulator TRAI is expected to recommend a one-time fee for every unit of second generation (2G) airwaves that incumbent GSM-based telecom companies have beyond the 6.4 MHz limit.
Last year, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had proposed that GSM telecom companies pay for 2G airwaves beyond the 6.2 MHz limit in every region at rates discovered during the 3G auctions. However, due to stiff opposition from the GSM service providers, the regulator said it would revisit the issue.