50% cut in CDMA spectrum reserve price gets Govt nod
18 Jan 2013 6:01 AM IST
The government on Thursday approved a 50 per cent reduction in the reserve price of spectrum used by CDMA mobile operators.
'The Cabinet has approved 50 per cent reduction in CDMA spectrum (reserve) price which was fixed earlier at Rs 18,200 crore (pan India 5MHz),' Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said. All the spectrum auction, GSM and CDMA, will be completed by 31 March and markets will decide how much revenue the government will get, he added.
After 50 per cent reduction, pan-India 5MHz of 800 MHz spectrum (CDMA radio-waves) will now cost Rs 9,100 crore.
The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, considered the recommendation of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) which suggested a 50 per cent cut in the reserve price of 800 MHz band. The November auction of CDMA spectrum did not attract bidders due to high reserve price. The reserve price set was 11 times higher than what operators paid in 2008.
The government had earlier fixed CDMA spectrum price at 1.3 times more than the GSM spectrum in 1800 Mhz band. The Cabinet has already approved a 30 per cent cut in the reserve price of 1,800 MHz band spectrum used for offering GSM services.
Reduction in reserve price of CDMA spectrum may help companies like Sistema of Russia to bid in the auction and make up for the ones they lost when the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences in February last year.
The apex court has recently allowed the companies whose licences were cancelled to continue operations till 4 February when the government is supposed to inform it of the final reserve or minimum price for the spectrum sale.
MTNL LAUNCHES VIDEO TELEPHONY
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday asked DoT Secretary R Chandrashekhar to examine the possibility of extending MTNL's new video telephony service to mobile phones even as he said Internet telephony will not happen immediately.
'I requested Secretary (R Chandrashekhar) just now, connect it (MTNL video telephony service) to mobile phones,' Sibal said while launching MTNL's video telephony service which is based on broadband technology.
The state-run telecom company launched the service to make calls through MTNL land line or fiber network. MTNL Chairman and Managing Director AK Garg said 'people will not require personal computers (PC) to make these video calls'.
Present rules in India allow people to make voice and video calls from a computers to another computer only. Making calls from computers to mobile phones is not allowed.
At present, there are VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) applications like Skype, Gtalk, Yahoo from which Internet users can make video calls from their personal computers to another PC.
Speaking to reporters after the event Sibal, however, said opening of Internet telephony 'is part of a policy, it is not going to happen immediately, it will take some time'.
Telecom Minister further suggested MTNL and BSNL to make provisions for connecting video telephony devices to television sets so that people can see larger image of persons they are talking to. The state-run telecom firm has plans to include video surveillance facility in its new services with back-up service.
'The Cabinet has approved 50 per cent reduction in CDMA spectrum (reserve) price which was fixed earlier at Rs 18,200 crore (pan India 5MHz),' Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said. All the spectrum auction, GSM and CDMA, will be completed by 31 March and markets will decide how much revenue the government will get, he added.
After 50 per cent reduction, pan-India 5MHz of 800 MHz spectrum (CDMA radio-waves) will now cost Rs 9,100 crore.
The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, considered the recommendation of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) which suggested a 50 per cent cut in the reserve price of 800 MHz band. The November auction of CDMA spectrum did not attract bidders due to high reserve price. The reserve price set was 11 times higher than what operators paid in 2008.
The government had earlier fixed CDMA spectrum price at 1.3 times more than the GSM spectrum in 1800 Mhz band. The Cabinet has already approved a 30 per cent cut in the reserve price of 1,800 MHz band spectrum used for offering GSM services.
Reduction in reserve price of CDMA spectrum may help companies like Sistema of Russia to bid in the auction and make up for the ones they lost when the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences in February last year.
The apex court has recently allowed the companies whose licences were cancelled to continue operations till 4 February when the government is supposed to inform it of the final reserve or minimum price for the spectrum sale.
MTNL LAUNCHES VIDEO TELEPHONY
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday asked DoT Secretary R Chandrashekhar to examine the possibility of extending MTNL's new video telephony service to mobile phones even as he said Internet telephony will not happen immediately.
'I requested Secretary (R Chandrashekhar) just now, connect it (MTNL video telephony service) to mobile phones,' Sibal said while launching MTNL's video telephony service which is based on broadband technology.
The state-run telecom company launched the service to make calls through MTNL land line or fiber network. MTNL Chairman and Managing Director AK Garg said 'people will not require personal computers (PC) to make these video calls'.
Present rules in India allow people to make voice and video calls from a computers to another computer only. Making calls from computers to mobile phones is not allowed.
At present, there are VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) applications like Skype, Gtalk, Yahoo from which Internet users can make video calls from their personal computers to another PC.
Speaking to reporters after the event Sibal, however, said opening of Internet telephony 'is part of a policy, it is not going to happen immediately, it will take some time'.
Telecom Minister further suggested MTNL and BSNL to make provisions for connecting video telephony devices to television sets so that people can see larger image of persons they are talking to. The state-run telecom firm has plans to include video surveillance facility in its new services with back-up service.
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