New Delhi, December 21
Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal today informed the telecom operators that they would have to fork out the cost for excess spectrum held by them and this cost may be decided on the basis of the prevailing market rates.

The move, however, may well come after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sought the views of the Law Ministry on charging a fee for all airwaves GSM telcos hold beyond the 6.2 MHz.

Additional allocations over 6.2 MHz to incumbent GSM operators have been one of the spectrum controversies over the past three years with the CDMA and the GSM operators slugging it out in the open over the issue.

Earlier this year, telecom regulator TRAI wanted operators holding more than 6.2 MHz of 2G spectrums to pay for it at rates determined during the auction of 3G frequencies, inviting the backlash of incumbent GSM telcos, including state-owned BSNL.

While a mobile permit allows a maximum of 6.2 MHz of airwaves per circle, GSM operators cite subsequent policy changes that entitle them up to 15 MHz or units of airwaves in each region, and add that the legality of this policy change has been upheld multiple times by the governments and the courts.

In a related development, the Telecom Tribunal, while dismissing a petition recently from Tata Tele seeking that incumbent GSM operators be asked to give back all airwaves they hold beyond the 6.2 MHz mark in any circle, said it had not been shown that the policy decision (for additional allotments beyond 6.2 MHz) was ‘unconstitutional or contrary to the national policy’, while adding that charges for having these airwaves cannot be imposed retrospectively.

Vodafone Essar managing director and CEO Marten Pieters in a recent statement had reiterated that legality of the existing airwaves allocation policy had been upheld by the telecom ministry itself in Parliament and on an affidavit in the ‘Telecom Tribunal where it has been categorically and repeatedly averred that the initial and additional spectrum have been allotted as per provisions of licence agreement and as per guidelines notified from time to time’.