According to our exclusive sources, Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) all set to submit its additional CDMA spectrum back to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in all circles except Delhi and Mumbai to avoid one time payment charges.
Recently,the telecom department (DoT) had imposed a one-time spectrum charge on airwaves held by existing mobile phone companies (CDMA and GSM) after the central Government had cleared the proposal in late 2012.
For CDMA operators, the charge has been applied prospectively for all Spectrum beyond the 2.5 MHz mark in the 800 MHz band (CDMA) and is based on the reserve price of the March 2013 auctions for these frequencies.
Earlier, Tata Teleservices has already discontinue its CDMA mobile operations in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and the North-East circles and increasingly shifting their attention and investment to GSM/3G operations in all other circles.
Presently Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam (SSTL), BSNL and MTNL hold spectrum beyond 2.5 Megahertz (Mhz) in a few telecom service areas.
SSTL/ MTS India which recently won 3.75 Mhz spectrum in 8 circle will not have to pay one-time spectrum fee for these area but the spectrum held by the company in Rajasthan circle falls under the ambit of the order.
As per the initial estimates, our sources said that one time Spectrum Fee on RCom and Tata Teleservices amounted to about Rs.1,752 and Rs.1155 crore respectively, after the Cabinet had reduced CDMA spectrum base price for auction by 50%.
Tata Teleservices move may be good for SSTL which is operating pure CDMA mobile services under the brand MTS India. MTS and can now take additional spectrum from the auction of CDMA airwaves in future to make 5 mhz continuous spectrum to deploy LTE 4G services.
