Telecom Lead India: The Cellular Operators Association of India in its assessment of TRAI’s spectrum recommendations said
that TRAI has underestimated the cost per minute impact by around 50
percent by counting both incoming and outgoing MOU (Minutes of use) in
its calculations rather than just the outgoing MOU which are charged.
PwC and COAI’s assessment estimates that the cost per
minute to a subscriber will increase by a range of 29-34 paisa compared to 4.4
paisa (FY13) as estimated by TRAI.
The paper points out further that TRAI assumes in its
operator estimate that MOU per subscriber will grow by 83 percent in the 20
year period while in the last four years MOU per subscriber has declined by 13
percent per annum.
Also India is unlikely to see data usage as 50
percent of revenue by 2020-21 as estimated by TRAI. COAI said that
the regulator does not consider further cost of extension of licenses
for renewed usage of spectrum which are at present in use for servicing current
customer needs.
Also, COAI added that TRAI has omitted the
additional spectrum that will be required to service the huge growth in voice
and data traffic.
The PwC assessment has revealed to us the
inconsistencies in the TRAI recommendations. Our greatest concern however is
the adverse impact upon the end consumer which the report reveals. This
careful examination of TRAI’s recommendations reveals a clear disconnect with
the spirit of the National Telecom policy, 2012 which hopes to leverage
telecoms as a tool for greater economic inclusion,” said Rajan S. Mathews,
director general, Cellular Operators Association of India.
COAI said that Indian mobile operators’
financial performance will be impacted by the recommendations due to the
proposed heavy spectrum costs.
COAI slams TRAI, rejects recommendations put forth by Indian
telecom regulator
Recently, COAI accused the telecom regulator of blatantly
ignoring industry representations on spectrum pricing and auction.
editor@telecomlead.com
