What could be the fate of Rcom subscribers in Bihar, West Bengal and Assam post December 12th?

Reliance communications the 4th largest telecom operator in India was faced with the challenge of retaining its efficient 900MHz airwaves in the spectrum auction conducted earlier this year. Rcom was able to only retain the 900MHz spectrum in the 2 circles of Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh while in other two circles of Odisha and the North East it won 1800MHz spectrum for continuing its 2G operations.

  • Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
  • Source of Google
  • Source of Google

reliance-communications

But Rcom was neither able to retain the 900MHz spectrum nor win fresh 1800MHz spectrum in 3 key circles of Bihar, Assam and West Bengal, which gives rise to the big question ‘What will happen to Rcom’s 2G subscriber base in these 3 circles?’

The three circles of Bihar, Assam and West Bengal comprise over 19 million subscribers out of the total estimated 110 million subscriber base of Rcom which contributes to 5% of its gross revenue, according to Economic Times. Reliance would need to take remedial measures soon since the date of license expiry in these circles is 12th December 2015 which is less than 60 days away and according to a DOT mandate the operator needs to inform its subscribers 30 calendar days in advance of shutting services in a circle.

image

Most of Rcom’s customers in these areas are already on the 3G network, since Rcom has 2100MHz spectrum in all 3 circles, therefore the overall impact on customer experience may be negligible. In these three circles, the company would either have to sign ICRA with the incumbents or consider spectrum trading and sharing in a bid to retain business. If it takes the ICRA route, Rcom will not be able to provide discounted tariffs in these circles since it would have to pay the partner network for using its active and passive infrastructure.