What should be the spectrum policy like ?

Hi Sonal and others in this debate;

By now, I hope at least some have understood the fallacy of Indian telecom policy that I have been pointing out for years. The unfortunate part is that the new policies are making it bad to worse.viz.,

1) Reduction of license validity from 20 to 10 years

2) Creation of more telecom companies without looking into the spectrum availability and cost of implementation of multiple systems and networks.

3)Selling out of available spectrum by auction without considering the expansion needs of the incumbent operators.

4) Making the existing service providers to compete with fresh entrants in the auctions to get the spectrum needed for their existing and expansion service needs.

5) Selling out of fresh spectrum every time there is new technology inception.

6) Distribution of spectrum without doing realistic forecast of future needs.

7) It is suicidal to telecom industry in allowing Banking industry to hijack the telecom systems and network and customer base for VAS like 'Money through Phone".

8) The MNP killed the opportunity "Service provider based mobile service" instead of "Network operator based service" which is inevitably going to be order of the service in the future which automatically takes care of the MNP feature.

9) Convergence of Technology, systems, networks and end user devices is going to be order of the future and need to be considered by in policy making.

According to me the Telecom companies are also to be blamed. With available spectrum and growth forecast, there is scope for only a maximum of 4 to 6 service providers to exist in a Pan-India basis. So inevitably govt. will have to give the spectrum by default at the base price if they do not participate in the auction process.

It is time DOT/ TRAI and the Govt. have a fresh look in the whole issue instead of wasting time in litigation and court cases. Otherwise we are killing this goose laying golden eggs and also the customers who are currently benefited by quick telecom growth during the past two decades.

The philosophy is simple. Government should consider Telecom as a "Means to enable all round national growth and social service, not as a means of making money for the government by cheating the industry"

Are not the following the real facts?

What Mr. Raja did in 2G spectrum is right and what Govt did in auctioning 3G spectrum is wrong. Fast expansion of Telecom is more in the interest of the the Nation, than that of the industrialists. To encourage this, the right thing government should do is to provide spectrum free cost to eligible players on lease or revenue share basis keeping the ownership with the government so that spectrum can be redistributed according to future needs.

Having given the spectrum on certain terms and conditions to those already in the operation, It is absolutely wrong to tell them who were in dire need of 2G spectrum for expansion, to get it by auction with new entrant players.

Therefore, Mr. Raja gave the much needed 2G spectrum to incumbent operators according the allocation rules as applicable at that time. 

The spare amount of 2G spectrum for which there were no takers out of the incumbent operators, was given out to new players at cost at par with others.

As the quantum of 2G spectrum available as spare was limited and the takers were many, the best way to allocate it according to standing rules was on a first come first served basis. In a first come first served situation, it is only fair to pre-close when enough applications received for available quantum of spectrum.  

Lobbying by industrialists is a normal practice every where to quicken the process in a democratic way in a democratic country and therefore do not violate law unless there is corrupt practice for getting undue favors.   

I strongly condemn the media for passing preemptive judgments on everything reaching their own conclusions instead of impartial reporting which is the basic purpose and duty of the media.

It is painful to watch media anchor persons and the participants in the talk shows behave like screeching vultures around decaying carcass.

Decision to auction 3G spectrum is totally wrong. It is like selling out by auction the sky space to various aviation industrialists or national highways to transporters.

Blaming of loss in giving away 2G spectrum according to rules existed then, instead of auctioning like 3G spectrum, is like a daughter abusing her mother for not resorting to prostitution like she does to earn good money. 

It is not fair to blame industrialists using the business opportunity, and it not their business to look whether the government is doing it in the right way.

If Mr. Raja misused his position in getting personal favors, the law should take its own course and punish the guilty whoever it is.

I have been shouting from roof top for years

that selling out of scarce wireless spectrum to

private companies by auction is totally wrong.

Technology will be changing fast and selling out

spectrum every time at the introduction of a new

technology is a big blunder. 

Giving license to very large number of new companies without considering pros and cons was another big mistake. 

The issues are to be seen in its right perspective, without jumping into erroneous conclusions. Nothing better can be expected from power hungry political parties, but Media acting as vultures around dead carcass without rightly analyzing the issue and coming out with biased opinion is very unfortunate.

Year 2011 will be a repetition of 2001-2002 Telecom bubble burst due to pre-mature pushing of 3G into market, unless the government and Telecom industry remain vigilant. Transition of Voice to data causes to move the revenue out from Telecom Industry to external service providers in the PDN.

For example I had been propagating the importance of Government to consider Telecom service providers entry into Mobile banking instead of making them mere onlookers when financial institutions and other industries use Telecom customer base, Technology, Systems and Network  set up and operated with heavy investment, easily bye-passing the revenue from them.

I have given a workable Mobile Banking solution,  'Money through Mobile -MTM' for mass Micro e-trade, Money transfer and Financial Inclusion of people in the lower economic strata. 

If necessary an exclusive system and network for MTM operation across the country should be set up by a consortium of Telecom service providers by obaining regulatory approval from the government.

Any one interested can see a ppt.presentation of mine on MTM in Peerpower.com, in  'Telecom & IT' group repository of documents.     

Please see a posting on this in Business Lines of 2nd Nov. 2010 in the following link.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/11/02/stories/2010110252550700.htm 

In my view, the policy regime for making spectrum available should be Subscriber based. The policy should be mainly based on operators having more subscribers.......
What do you think ?
Please post your comments....