Dual-Technology operators have been beneficiaries of a decision taken by DOT (Department of Telecom) during the period September 2007 to March 2008. Decisions taken during this period have been held to be illegal by the Hon’ble Supreme Court via order dated 2nd Feb, 2012. Also the allocation of dual spectrum during the above mentioned period is equivalent to allocation of second license to these companies in the same service area which otherwise is not allowed as per cross holding restrictions.
Dual Technology operators have also violated the rollout obligations, in accordance with the GSM spectrum allocated to them, as they were required to meet the same mandated by TRAI/ DoT for GSM services.
Additionally, in violation of the TRAI mandate that CDMA operators would have to acquire the requisite spectrum in the CDMA identified bands and pay auction determined prices, these operators are offering EVDO (high speed data) services on their existing spectrum, without paying the auction prices as determined by the 3G spectrum auction. This is a gross violation of the principle of “level playing field” and has caused an estimated loss of Rs. 14,823 Crore to the Government.
The fact that Dual-Technology operators pay ongoing spectrum usage charges on a disaggregated spectrum basis as opposed to paying on a combined spectrum basis (as done by the GSM operators), causes a major loss to the government which can be estimated at about Rs. 26,000 Crore.
So, if the COAI says that this huge amount is going into loss for the Government, this in turn means that the operators have saved this humungous amount and are enjoying the benefits.