Reserve price for broadband to soar - DoT rejects TRAI proposals

By Harsha Pramod @ Wednesday, July 09, 2008 7:11 AM

Section - Telecoms/Broadband

The department of telecommunications (DoT) plans to increase reserve price for broadband wireless access services in India fourfold, reported the Business Standard.

Against the normal 25% of the reserve price for 3G spectrum for every 10 MHz block, Dot has decided to allocate only 4 blocks of 10 MHz, due to spectrum constraints. Dot will not allow category B internet service providers to offer broadband wireless services.

DoT states that if the reserve price for a 3G spectrum block in category ‘A' is fixed at Rs160 crore ($37m), the price for broadband wireless access spectrum should be Rs 40 crore ($9.3m), contrary to Rs 10 crore ($2.3m) proposed by the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) in September 2006. TRAI had proposed Rs 5 crore ($1.2m) and Rs 2 crore ($.5m), for categories ‘B’ and ‘C’, respectively.

According to DoT, the licence for a broadband wireless access (BWA) should be valid for 15 years as in the case of internet providers, to provide a level playing field. This is against the 5 years proposed by TRAI. The existing internet service providers and universal access service licensees will be eligible to opt for the BWA licence to extend their licence period further. X