Kapil Sibal, the federal telecom minster on Thursday declared that India will endeavour to apportion an increased range of radio bandwidth to telecom operators underscoring the fact that the limited availability of the spectrum is the major impediment to the fast-growing sector.
The minister’s statement focused on the hassle between the telecom ministry and India’s defence forces that act as the shielders of the radio bandwidth. The latter have been hesitant to allocate spectrum for sale to private telecom operators.
Due to the differences over the release of the bandwidth for civilian use there have been delays to the auction of radio bandwidth to private mobile operators for third-generation (3G) mobile services.
The ministries’ comment has come after India’s federal investigating agency is scrutinizing the government’s sale in 2008 of mobile phone licenses and bandwidth to several firms which has been found biased.
According to a government auditor, the scandal led to the revenue loss of up to $40 billion as the spectrum was priced far below its market rate. It also resulted in the resignation of Andimuthu Raja from the post of telecom minister in November.
India is the second largest market for wireless services after China, with over 687 million mobile phone users. It adds more that 15 million wireless subscribers per month. Telecom operators are expected to pay a large premium for the extra bandwidth to avoid the poor voice quality and frequent call drops with the increasing subscribers.
The price of one slot of bandwidth rose from the starting rate of 35 billion rupees to 167.51 billion rupees this year during the intensely competitive auction of bandwidth for 3G mobile services resulting in an advantage of $14.6 billion to the government.
Mr. Sibal told the reporters that the security agencies of the country had expressed their concern over the security of video calls via the 3G mobile services as they have failed to tap such calls.
Sibal said, “Security concerns on 3G video calls will be resolved soon.”