Telecommunications

Background, Technologies, Spectrum

 Background – Telecom
O In 1881, Oriental Telephone Company Limited of England
opened telephones exchanges
O In 1975 Department of Telecom (DoT) separated from Indian
Post & Telecommunication
O In 1985 , MTNL was chipped out of DoT to run the telecom
services of Delhi and Mumbai
O In 1990s the telecom sector was opened up by the Government
for private investment
O In1997 TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) was setup
O In 2000, BSNL came into existence
O In 2004-07, GSM & CDMA spectrum allotted
O In 2008, 3G services came into India
O In 2012 ,India has the world's second-largest mobile phone
user base
What is Telecommunications?
O It is exchange of information over significant
distances by electronic means
O Mobile phones, satellite phones, landline, TV ,
radio
O A basic mobile telecommunication
system consists of three primary units –
Transmitter, Transmitter Medium & Receiver
 GSM/CDMA
GSM CDMA
Divide bandwidth in to time slots Unique code for every user separately and
allocate bandwidth

900 , 1800 & 1900 MHz 450, 800 & 1900 MHz

Less signal deterioration inside buildings Consumes less power and covers large
areas

Ability to use repeaters Likelihood of dropped calls is less

International roaming is not a problem Generally unable to roam internationally

Interferes with some electronics, especially Less interference problems

certain audio amplifiers
 2G, 3G ,4G
2G 3G 4G
Digitally encrypted Mobile Internet access Mobile web access

Greater penetration levels Video calls IP telephony

Data services for mobile Mobile TV Gaming services

Helps mobile batteries to Download speed of High-definition mobile TV

last long around 200Kbps

2.5G - GPRS started Location based services Video conferencing

2.75 – EDGE started Video on demand 3D television

(Enhanced Data rates
for GSM Evolution)
2G standard – GSM & 3G standards - GSM & 4G standards – WiMax &
CDMA CDMA LTE – Still in development
mode
 Frequency, Wavelength
O Frequency - Rate at which something occurs
or is repeated over a particular period of
time
O Unit of Frequency -Hertz – Cycles per second
O Wavelength – Distance from one amplitude
of frequency wave to other
O Frequency = velocity/wavelength
 Telecom Bodies - India
O TRAI - Central government's regulatory body
O DOT -Part of the Ministry of Communication
O Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate
Tribunal (TDSAT)
O COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India)– non
government – GSM service providers
O AUSPI (Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of
India )- non government – CDMA service providers
 Spectrum
O "Spectrum" is the range of radio frequencies
available for wavelengths.
O In India, the radio frequencies are arbitrarily
confined between 9kHz and 3000 GHz
O Requires the application of complex engineering
tools
O Not consumed upon its usage
 Spectrum and Mobile
Telephone services
O GSM - 900 and 1800 MHz
O CDMA - 800 MHz band
O International roaming facilities - common
bands are used
O Spectrum for the roll out of 3G services -
2.1 GHz
 Allocation & Need of
Spectrum
O The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
O Allocations are made on a regional basis and for
different types of services
O It is mandatory for all administrations to adhere
to these allocations
O Proposals are discussed and decisions are taken
O Ensure interference free operation for each radio
service
 Spectrum Allotment
Procedure - India
O DoT has evolved guidelines
O Allotment of extra spectrum, based on the
justification and fulfillment of the prescribed
criteria
O Different categories of service areas, average
traffic per subscriber, number of base stations
in a specified area
 Spectrum Issue
O From 2004-07, additional spectrum of up to 10 MHz
was allotted to incumbents at nil price, limiting
availability to newer operators
O In some cases, 6.2 Mhz was allocated up-front, even
though the start-up spectrum was 4.4 MHz
O TRAI announced recommendations for dual
technology in August 2007
O Reliance, Shyam, HFCL, TTSL, BSNL and MTNL
became eligible for GSM spectrum
 Spectrum Issue
O Reliance, HFCL and Shyam had speculatively
applied in 2006 and were issued approval a day
before public announcement of the Policy
O COAI filed their petition against Dual Technology
O Delhi High Court observed that the UAS license
was technology neutral and that in September
1999, MTNL license had been amended to allow
use of dual technology. They upheld the dual
tech policy and did not find anything wrong in 3
applicants getting approvals before the public
announcement of the policy
 Spectrum Issue
O Most current allocation completed by the
time new guidelines were announced in Jan
2008. Difficult to get additional allocations of
spectrum even up to the contracted level of
6.2 MHz
 Spectrum Issue
O 9 operators were allotted spectrum beyond
the limit laid down in the UASL agreement
O As per the CAG, while the DoT was not
processing pending license applications due
to non availability of spectrum, it was
allotting spectrum to existing operators
beyond the contracted limit without any
charges or without determination of market
price of spectrum
Spectrum Issue – TTSL View
O In 2004, criteria for CDMA is changed
O Max. entitlement was 5 Mhz
O CDMA operators had to have 4-12 lac. subscribers
for 5 MHz but for GSM no conditions up to 6.2 MHz
O In January 2008, Reliance got GSM spectrum in all
circles.
O TTSL applied after policy was announced and had
to wait for 83 days till January 2008 for approval.
TTSL paid Rs.1,659 crores the same day but is still
waiting for startup GSM spectrum in Delhi and 39
districts spread over 9 circles. TTSL is in TDSAT
since Sep 2010
 Suggested Solution
O All operators must first be given their minimal
contractual entitlement of 6. 2 Mhz of GSM spectrum
O If this means some of the excess spectrum allocated to
existing operators has to be returned and re-distributed,
then that must be done
O TRAI has recommended reframing of 900 MHz
spectrum by providing incumbent operators equivalent
bandwidth in the 1800 MHz band and auctioning the
900 MHz spectrum vacated by them
O Incumbent GSM operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and
Idea have vehemently opposed the reframing of 900
MHz spectrum. They argue that there will be an
additional burden of capex in setting up tower sites and
infrastructure that they will have to bear.
 2G Scam
O In 2008, 122 licenses issued to telecom
operators with limited experience
O No auctions were held
O 85 license are illegal & don’t fulfill criteria
O Unitech – Telenor, Swan – Etisalat
O Reliance, Airtel got extra spectrum costing Govt.
$8billion.
O $39 billion in lost revenue
O Investments made already
O FDI threat
 Vodafone Tax Case
O Vodafone Holdings bought CGP Investment
Holdsing from Hutchisson (HTIL) forn 11.1$
billion at Cayman Island (UK)
O Hutchisson Essar Ltd. had its stake in CGP
,Vodafone got 52% of stake in 2007
O Bombay High Court issued order against
Vodafone
O Rs. 12,000 crore as tax to be paid
O Effects FDI , India already ranked at 134 by
World Bank
O Supreme court issued statement in favour of
Vodafone
National Telecom Policy -2012
O Rural Tele density – To improve rural teledensity
from the current level of around 39 to 70 by the
year 2017 and 100 by the year 2020
O Broadband – “’Broadband For All” at a minimum
download speed of 2 Mbps
O Domestic Manufacturing - Making India a global
hub
O Convergence of Network, Services and Devices
O Liberalization of Spectrum - any Service in any
Technology
National Telecom Policy -2012
O Simplification of Licensing regime - Unified
Licensing, delinking of Spectrum from License,
Online real time submission and processing
O Consumer Focus - Achieve One Nation – Full
Mobile Number Portability and work towards One
Nation – Free Roaming
O Resale of Services
O VOIP – Voice over Internet Protocol
O Cloud Computing – Next Generation Network
including IPV6