Round one goes to Anil Ambani

 

 

After creating havoc in the marketplace and the policy corridors of the government, the great Indian telecom mess is finally doing rounds of the Prime Minister’s office.

While market leader Bharti Airtel and other GSM players are repelling the government’s dual tech policy which allows the CDMA players to offer GSM services in the same circle, the CDMA players like Reliance Communication are ruing the fact that the existing GSM players have been allocated extra spectrum.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Anil Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Communication, has highlighted the fact that the GSM players are entitled to 6.2 MHz of spectrum, while the reality is that they have been issued spectrum in the excess of the set norms resulting in a loss of revenue to the government. In his letter to the Prime Minister, Anil Ambani wrote "I request your kind advice and guidance to the new committee not to succumb to pressures by the GSM lobby, and instead objectively examine the recommendations made by the TRAI and the TEC."

Earlier in October, Arun Sarin () and Sunil Bharti Mittal (Chairman, Airtel) had written letters to the Prime Minister, requesting his interference in the dual tech policy, claiming that the new policy was against the interest of the existing GSM players and clearly favoured the CDMA operators. At that time, Cellular Operators Association of India (a body representing GSM players) had moved the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, protesting against the centre’s decision to allow usage of dual technology. Clearly, the GSM players did not want a strong competitor like Anil Ambani to enter the already highly competitive GSM domain.

However, putting an end to all the speculations, the government has decided to move ahead with the dual tech policy and distribute licences to the new applicants. “We are going to issue new licences as per the new policy framed in 2003 by the Group of Ministers which stated that Unified Access Service (UAS) licences will be given without any restriction,” said the Telecom Minister, A. Raja.

With no sign of respite coming from the government, the players like Arun Sarin, Sunil Bharti Mittal must now gear themselves up to bear the onslaught of CDMA firms like Reliance Communication and Tata Indicom.

Though the dual tech war is poised to go down the wire, Anil Ambani seems to be a clear winner in round one. Well, considering the controversial history of the telecom policy makers, it might take just one more policy change for the tide to turn towards the other side!