Telephone companies were urged in January to improve their services before the government announces a new allocation of airwaves. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) expects companies to serve up to four times their current subscriber base to qualify for the new allocation.
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Opposing the government’s move, Reliance Communications demanded stricter rules for the allocation. The company served a legal notice on the government in January, asking it to follow a formula worked out by the Telecom Engineering Centre, which proposed that operators serve up to 10 times the current customer base to qualify for additional spectrum used by phone firms to transmit voice signals.
Reliance offers phone services using CDMA rather than the GSM system used by its rivals. Reliance would consider going to court if the DoT allocates spectrum to GSM operators based on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s proposal, a company spokesperson was quoted by Livemint.com as saying.
The companies using GSM, under the umbrella of the Cellular Operators Association of India, served their own legal notice asking the DoT not to allocate spectrum to CDMA operators who are now planning to offer GSM-based services.
New Delhi law firm Agarwal Law Associates is acting for Reliance.
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