Hurdles are plenty in way of implementing 3G policy. Any delay will make it costly for the telecom companies
If 3G doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry. For the telecom companies, you make sense to 3G. In other words, your presence is what makes them believe in 3G. Service providers are now gearing up to apply for the Third Generation (3G) spectrum. 3G systems support increased data communications and wireless broadband Internet access. The 3G networks have markedly greater capacity and spectrum efficiency and 3G services facilitate higher speeds and data throughputs, which enable the delivery of a wide range of multi-media services. In an ideal 3G scenario, users would get abundance of value added services developed by independent service providers with plethora of business combinations and technical implementations.
According to Nirperder Mishra, Chairman TRAI said to B&E, “Broadband connectivity is critical for moving the country towards a knowledge-based society. The deployment of 3G will facilitate the penetration of broadband in the country and also help in achieving the target set by the government for broadband connections”. All in all 3G would give greater access to consumers to value-added services. However, even before the companies could start operating with 3G, dark clouds have started to hover around the entire issue.
Differences between the Finance Ministry and the Department of Telecom (DoT) is the latest controversy to have gripped the whole issue. The Finance Ministry has accused DoT of violating due process and undermining the explicit Cabinet decisions on inter-departmental approvals for policies that have a revenue impact. It has even accused DoT of coming up with a policy which has half-baked guidelines.
According to the 3G policy that was announced by the Ministry, foreign players will have to dole out at least Rs.40 billion for acquiring spectrum where as the existing players will have to pay a minimum of only Rs.20.20 billion. Besides the auction guidelines also makes it difficult for global telecom operators, like AT&T, Verizon, NTT DoCoMo and Deutsche Telecom to bid for 3G spectrum. Firstly the auction is only for 3G and not 2G so these companies would have to join hands with the existing players for having a fully functional operational and the existing M&A norms would be a major hurdle for them to gain an entry. Along with this, there is also uncertainty regarding the 3G spectrum beyond the alloted range of 5 MHz.
All this combined together makes it only possible for the existing players to bid for spectrum. There is also criticism from the GSM operators that the guidelines so set by the ministry is skewed towards the CDMA operators. All this summed up would further delay the introduction of 3G policy. What makes the matter worse for the telecom players is that TRAI has recommended that calls from personal computers-to-phones be allowed in the country. It would help Internet service providers (ISPs) open new revenue streams as they would be able to provide cheaper international calls and even free local calls to the consumers. Most importantly the ISPs would get the benefit without incurring any cost.
Untapped rural market would also open up for the Internet providers. “This could drive the growth of broadband in the country. Also, rural markets, where long distance tariffs still remain unaffordable, could benefit greatly,” said ISPAI president Rajesh Chharia. Telecom operators on the other hand have to wait till the 3G policy is implemented. While on one hand they have to pay huge amount to win spectrum, on the other the opportunity lost to Internet providers would be huge. It makes no sense to have a policy which is not able to provide benefits to the very companies who are part of it.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
If 3G doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry. For the telecom companies, you make sense to 3G. In other words, your presence is what makes them believe in 3G. Service providers are now gearing up to apply for the Third Generation (3G) spectrum. 3G systems support increased data communications and wireless broadband Internet access. The 3G networks have markedly greater capacity and spectrum efficiency and 3G services facilitate higher speeds and data throughputs, which enable the delivery of a wide range of multi-media services. In an ideal 3G scenario, users would get abundance of value added services developed by independent service providers with plethora of business combinations and technical implementations.
According to Nirperder Mishra, Chairman TRAI said to B&E, “Broadband connectivity is critical for moving the country towards a knowledge-based society. The deployment of 3G will facilitate the penetration of broadband in the country and also help in achieving the target set by the government for broadband connections”. All in all 3G would give greater access to consumers to value-added services. However, even before the companies could start operating with 3G, dark clouds have started to hover around the entire issue.
Differences between the Finance Ministry and the Department of Telecom (DoT) is the latest controversy to have gripped the whole issue. The Finance Ministry has accused DoT of violating due process and undermining the explicit Cabinet decisions on inter-departmental approvals for policies that have a revenue impact. It has even accused DoT of coming up with a policy which has half-baked guidelines.
According to the 3G policy that was announced by the Ministry, foreign players will have to dole out at least Rs.40 billion for acquiring spectrum where as the existing players will have to pay a minimum of only Rs.20.20 billion. Besides the auction guidelines also makes it difficult for global telecom operators, like AT&T, Verizon, NTT DoCoMo and Deutsche Telecom to bid for 3G spectrum. Firstly the auction is only for 3G and not 2G so these companies would have to join hands with the existing players for having a fully functional operational and the existing M&A norms would be a major hurdle for them to gain an entry. Along with this, there is also uncertainty regarding the 3G spectrum beyond the alloted range of 5 MHz.
All this combined together makes it only possible for the existing players to bid for spectrum. There is also criticism from the GSM operators that the guidelines so set by the ministry is skewed towards the CDMA operators. All this summed up would further delay the introduction of 3G policy. What makes the matter worse for the telecom players is that TRAI has recommended that calls from personal computers-to-phones be allowed in the country. It would help Internet service providers (ISPs) open new revenue streams as they would be able to provide cheaper international calls and even free local calls to the consumers. Most importantly the ISPs would get the benefit without incurring any cost.
Untapped rural market would also open up for the Internet providers. “This could drive the growth of broadband in the country. Also, rural markets, where long distance tariffs still remain unaffordable, could benefit greatly,” said ISPAI president Rajesh Chharia. Telecom operators on the other hand have to wait till the 3G policy is implemented. While on one hand they have to pay huge amount to win spectrum, on the other the opportunity lost to Internet providers would be huge. It makes no sense to have a policy which is not able to provide benefits to the very companies who are part of it.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
No comments:
Post a Comment