The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s proposal on spectrum refarming will have a substantial cost to the industry, including an increase in tariff that would inconvenience to consumers in coming days, with no benefit to stakeholders.
According to the study, the implementation of current refarming recommendations will require replacement of 286,590 existing 900 MHz base stations with 1800 MHz equipment.
This is in addition to deployment of 171,954 new base stations on 1800 MHz to fill coverage gaps this will result in an incremental capital expenditure.
The maximum harm will be to the rural consumers, the already connected, as well as the large population of waiting to be connected, Analysys Mason, a London based market intelligence firm, said in a study which was commissioned by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea.
If the incremental investment in refarming and the costs of spectrum are passed on to consumers in the form of enhanced retail voice tariffs, the overall tariffs will go up by as much as 64 paise per outgoing minute (30 paise due to refarming and 34 paise from spectrum investments).
So as a reader what’s your take, How big do you think this will impact on consumers and common man like you and me? Do share your views via comments.
