Charge Rs. 1500 cr for spectrum allocation

Yes, for a change, I agree with Mr. Ratan Tata. Yes, for a change, I am not advocating revenue sharing but one time charge. But this case merits so. SPECTRUM IS A SCARCE RESOURCE. It’s not something you can give out free to everybody and you need to utilize it efficiently in the interest of the nation. What if 100 telecom players start demanding 3G spectrum free of cost..can you provide it? If you start providing it for free ...MTNL will get a diff spectrum, BSNL will ask for different, Reliance Infocomm will ask of diff spectrum and Reliance Telecom will ask for different and so on. People will form separate telecom companies just for spectrum allocation and then sell it out to others for a price or underutilize it.

On an average we can expect a national player to have 1 crore mobile connections.(Both Reliance and Airtel has crossed this figure..Tata is already ready to pay the amount although it has relatively smaller customer base). If we take the figure Mr. Tata suggested i.e. Rs. 150o crores it amounts to Rs. 1500 per customer. This amount can be recovered from the telecom players in 12-18 month time from 3G services, which is a good enough pay back period. Smaller players who have lesser number of customers can lease out the extra spectrum to others. In fact spectrum should me made freely traded commodity and once the government sells it for the said amount it should not exercise control on players in terms of selling it down to others.

Yes, I agree that already telecom players are suffering from too many charges and additional charge will be a burden on the customer. What I suggest is - make a fund out of spectrum allocation for Universal Service Obligation (USO) and abolish Access deficit Charges (ADC) & USO charges. Apart from one time fee for spectrum, charge 2% of the revenue as spectrum charges that will help meet this obligation.

Charging for spectrum is important for its efficient use and to avoid hoarding and black marketing. At the same time telecom service should not be taxed to an extent that the business loose its luster. The above suggestion will ensure both.