GSM players oppose one-time spectrum fee

New Delhi, July 17

GSM-based mobile operators including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular have written to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, against the proposal to impose one-time fee on telecom companies with more than 6.2 Mhz spectrum.

While the Department of Telecom ha been mulling such a fee for some time, the proposal gained momentum after the Samajwadi Party leader, Mr Amar Singh, wrote to the Prime Minister that the Government should ask operators to pay Rs 1,312 crore for every Mhz they hold above the 6.2 Mhz mark.

Companies such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have been given as much as 12 Mhz in some circles, which means that these operators will have to cough up over Rs 10,000 crore if this proposal is accepted.

Letter to PM

Pushing their case to scrap the move through the Cellular Operators Association of India, the GSM players in their letter to the Prime Minister said, “It would be extremely improper, incorrect and legally untenable for the policies of the Government to be re-written with retrospective effect.”

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