BAck to Deadlock: Spectrum Jam!!

Friday, the 13th came out to be jinx in telecomworld with the spectrum allocation still in confusion state.

Trai has said that CDMA players be allocated additional carriers in the 800 MHz band. Reliance is the biggest CDMA player in the country today and it would be made availalable to it..This move by Trai has come in for sharp criticism by GSM companies, which allege a backdoor entry to CDMA players into 3G services by allowing them more spectrum despite they already possessing sufficient spectrum.
The CDMA lobby, however, contends that the GSM companies like Hutch are already offering 3G services in the form of Edge in the 1,800 MHz and 900 MHz bands. nd that at present they neither have the equipment nor handsets to support 3G services in IMT 2000 2 GHz band.

The regulator has also recommended that IMT 2000 (3G) services in 2 GHz band be made available to both CDMA and GSM operators.
It has said that an additional annual per MHz charge be levied on the operators using IMT-2000 2 GHz spectrum till the service provider rolls out 3G services. In case the service provider is unable to launch the services within two years from the date of allocation, the spectrum would be withdrawn.
It has also recommended an uniform spectrum allocation criteria for both CDMA and GSM players based on their subscriber base.
Trai has, however, not met CDMA players’ demand for additional spectrum on the US-PCS 1,900 MHz band since it could not be vacated by defence. However, CDMA operators would get additional carriers in the 800 MHz band.
Trai has recommended that existing users in the 900 MHz band should vacate the spectrum for GSM players to improve the coverage in semi-urban and rural areas.
Further, availability of at least 2x25 MHz spectrum in 1800 MHz band to GSM players is being coordinated by defence till end of 2006.