Norway’s Telenor group, which operates the Uninor brand in India, said it will not be able bid for spectrum in Mumbai circle, unless the reserve price for 1800 Mhz spectrum is slashed by at least 50 per cent.
Telenor Group wishes to clarify that a reserve price for Mumbai that is not at least 50% lower than in the previous round will compel Telenor Group to stay out of the auction process and Uninor to exit the Mumbai circle, it said in a statement.
“We now look to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Supreme Court for an intervention that ensures that the second round of auctions does not also fail and spectrum being a public resource is put to public use. Such an intervention is the only way to ensure a successful auction – which means wide participation, all spectrum sold, healthy bidding at possibly higher than reserve price. We are also concerned by the differential treatment between 800 MHz CDMA spectrum and 1800 MHz GSM spectrum. Considering that an unrealistic reserve price caused auctions to fail both of these bands in these circles, it is difficult to understand why the right decision of 50 per cent reduction is being taken only for CDMA operators,” it said.
Saurabh February 1, 2013 at 4:43 pm
I don’t know when people commenting here themselves know the AVoId group is looting customers then why the hell they are the leaders? The simple reason is, they’ve better coverage than those providing cheap services.
Take an example- Aircel and Videocon started their services in Haryana in 2010 and even after offering dirt cheap tariffs in both voice and data, they were never able to cross a million subscribers mark in more than 2 years. Videocon does crossed but it was short-lived. Whenever I asked people using either of the AVoId group that why don’t they shift to cheaper options like Videocon or Aircel or Tata Docomo? They asked question in return that where is the coverage? It’s the same everywhere which is keeping people away from cheaper options. Aircel is gone from Haryana and Videocon which is a cheaper option and has retained license don’t have enough coverage. They only have license for 7 circles and why would customers who roams frequently prefer using Videocon or Uninor. They will again lose to those having PAN-India coverage. So they continue to be a secondary choice for customers in 6-7 circles where they’ll operate. Even after the free roaming implementation, users of Videocon and Telenor will continue paying in those circles where they don’t have own license to operate resulting in exodus of users. So AVoId monopoly will continue to suck consumers money. They have the infra and they’ve all the rights to charge consumers more else it won’t be easy for them to expand 3G network which is long pending.
Videocon stated that they will be launching LTE in 7 circles but someone please tell them will users come to them when they come to know that in 15 circles they won’t even able to use 2G data as in those circles they will have to tie-up with other operators who will charge them. So Videocon and Telenor’s business will depend on those who don’t roam much and as I said they continue to be a secondary choice.
Btw has DoT gone sleepy over 3G ICRA issue?
anonymous February 1, 2013 at 9:17 pm
Actually , the avoid group got the first mover advantage long back ..when they the initial price to Rs8 /min they were forced to bring it down due to entry of reliance CDMA.. and this time too the coverage issue with new occupant got solution in CDMA.. which can maintain its longer coverage due to low frequency band and less number of tower reducing the input set up price benefiting the customer ,add to it the political lobbying and you have MTS
Arup Ghosh January 31, 2013 at 6:36 pm
With the shutting down of several brands the market will be in favor of The triband series and they will loot customers.
Kaushik Roy January 31, 2013 at 4:56 pm
Now MTS may want that CDMA base price to be reduced by 100%
what a game is going on between CDMA & GSM ?
Xyz January 31, 2013 at 2:26 pm
It makes sense for Uninor to take over the ailing Loop Mobile instead of bidding for spectrum in Mumbai. So the 3 big operators in Mumbai will be Vodafone, Airtel and then Uninor.
Uninor should also rename itself to Telenor, since Unitech has left the partnership and start waging a price war, since both Airtel and Vodafone besides Idea are looting customers.
Surprisingly the A-Vo-Id (Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) trio have increased the prices of 2G EDGE plans for obsolete speeds from Rs 98 to Rs 124. Why can’t the competition commission and TRAI take note of this looting? How can these companies increase prices for outdated 2G speeds?
VATSA January 31, 2013 at 6:35 pm
A-Vo-Id (Airtel, Vodafone and Idea) … LoLzxxx … seriously man … !!! They r trying to monopolize the industry and rule … then burn poor people’s pocket. !!! 3 biggest crooks !!
Esmail January 31, 2013 at 1:10 pm
Lets sit back and enjoy the great Indian telecom tamasha. What’s happening of the 4th feb deadline given by the supreme court, how many more months is it gonna be extended for this time? Why is there no clause being imposed by supreme court to force telcos to show intent to bid by paying earnest money before feb 4th and get extension to operate till next auction, failing which they be forced to shut operations in those circles.
Manash Pati January 31, 2013 at 11:48 am
50% reduction in CDMA spectrum is only due to MTS as Russia Government warned India Govt regarding this matter.If MTS will not able get back its all license then It will go to International Court.
So Dear Telenor, If U have any support like MTS ,then definitely u can force on India Govt(DOT) to slash the price of 1800Mhz GSM spectrum.
BEST OF LUCK
Manu January 31, 2013 at 11:41 am
The govt doesn’t give a shit about uninor leaving or not leaving. Its the people who have to bear the burden.