All stops removed for 3G mobile service launch

New Delhi, Sep 1 (PTI) Decks were cleared on Wednesday
for launching 3G mobile and broadband services in India,
with the government allocating air waves to private operators
after making certain amends to the licence terms.
The operators are authorised to use the spectrum for a
period of 20 years from Wednesday, according to the amended
licence conditions that allows companies to offer 3G services
till the validity of the spectrum even if their telecom
licences expire prior to that.
The government has imposed a roll-out obligation, under
which the service providers would have to cover at least 90
per cent of the service areas in the metros within the next
five years.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, RCom, Tatas, Idea Cellular,
Aircel and S Tel were the operators who had bagged 3G spectrum
in the auction in May that fetched the government over Rs
51,000 crore apart from about Rs 16,000 crore from the two
telecom PSUs -- BSNL and MTNL.
BSNL and MTNL were awarded spectrum more than a year ago
in view of their obligation to procure equipments through
cumbersome process of inviting tenders. BSNL offers services
throughout the country, except Delhi and Mumbai where MTNL is
the operator.
The operators have been awarded 5 Mhz of spectrum in each
circle they won in the auction.
In the two metros of Delhi and Mumbai, three operators --
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communication had emerged
the winners while no operator could bag pan-India spectrum in
the auction that was conducted between April 9 and May 18 this
year.
The government had auctioned three 3G slots throughout
the nation, while four slots were offered in five circles.
3G allows high-speed mobile broadband access enabling
users to download full length movies, make video calls and
watch live television programmes.
According to the amendment, if the operators fail to
achieve the roll-out obligations, they would be given
extension for one more year after paying 2.5 per cent of the
spectrum acquisition charge per quarter.
Also, in case of two companies merging, only one slot of
spectrum can be retained, according to the amended rules.
The operators will have to pay the upward revised
spectrum usage charges ranging between 3-8 per cent depending
upon the quantum of spectrum held by them. PTI PML
KAB


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