3G operators, currently under the scanner for roaming agreement, are unlikely to benefit from the proposal to allow spectrum sharing.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has told the Department of Telecom that 3G services should be kept out of the purview of spectrum sharing.
The regulator's view has not been objected to by the DoT's committee, which examined the TRAI's proposals on spectrum management.
The regulator has suggested that while spectrum sharing may be permitted for 2G mobile services, it should not be extended for 3G players. The issue will now be taken up at the Telecom Commission, which will meet on November 28 (Monday).
The TRAI comment comes as dampener for some of the 3G operators who were banking on the new spectrum rules to bail themselves out of the ongoing controversy surrounding roaming agreements.
The TRAI and three internal wings of the DoT had earlier termed the so called roaming deals as illegal. The legal department has also said the roaming agreement was not strictly permitted under the licence.
The current licence rules permit operators to go in for roaming agreements to allow users to get seamless coverage as they move from one circle to another. But in the case of 3G services, operators are selling connections even where they do not have spectrum.
Escalating their concern over 3G roaming agreement, the Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Sunil Mittal; the Idea Cellular Chairman, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla; and Vodafone Group's CEO, Mr Vittorio Colao, have written to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention in the matter.
The three honchos, in a letter to the Prime Minister, said the Government should either allow 3G roaming or refund the money paid by them for spectrum.
“In the event 3G intra-circle roaming is now deemed impermissible, then, it would be clear breach of our contract and the pre-auction confirmation given by the Government. In that eventuality, we request that our spectrum auction payments be refunded to us with interest along with compensation for all the capital investments made by us,” the letter sent on November 21 stated.
But an internal note prepared for the Minister of Communications said that if the DoT agrees to the definition of roaming as suggested by the operators, then there was a possibility of cartelisation among bidders in future auctions.
The Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring cell of the DoT had earlier said that action must be taken against those operators that have entered into such roaming deals, whereby a mobile operator without 3G spectrum is able to offer services. The Wireless Planning and Coordination wing, which is responsible for spectrum management, also termed the so-called roaming arrangement as illegal.