NEW DELHI: After telecom regulator TRAI and the finance ministry, the department of telecom (DoT) is set to face further opposition to its WiMAX auction policy. The Internet Service Providers Association of India, the body representing all standalone ISPs, has decided to ask the DoT to review the WiMAX policy, failing which it plans to haul the communications ministry to the telecom tribunal. “We will approach the DoT over this issue next week,” ISPAI president Rajesh Charia told ET.
First, standalone ISPs do not want the base price for the WiMAX auction to be linked to that of 3G. At present, the policy stipulates that the base price for WiMAX spectrum auction will be 25% of that for 3G radio frequencies — this implies, the reserve price of a pan-India WiMAX licence comes to about Rs 505 crore.
“WiMAX is predominantly for wireless high speed internet or broadband services where the platform of usage is computers. On the other hand, 3G is for mobile services,” explained Mr Charia. According to him, if the auctions are carried out as per the base price proscribed in the policy, no ISP would be able to bid. “A minimum of one slot must be reserved for standalone ISPs. Here only ISPs should be permitted to bid against each other,” he added. ISPAI wants an alternate formula where its members be charged only 25% of the highest bid that a telco makes for WiMAX spectrum in that particular circle during the auction.
Meanwhile, as reported by ET first, ISPs such as Sify and Spectranet are also planning to haul the communications ministry to the courts over the government’s decision to take back the 2.5 GHz WiMAX spectrum allotted to them. Any move by ISPs to go to the courts over these issues could delay the WiMAX spectrum auctions which are scheduled to take place by the year-end. Besides, the DoT can only go ahead with the auction if ISPs vacate the radio frequencies they hold in the 2.5 GHz band.
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