CDMA players accuse DoT of favouring GSM

The lobby group of CDMA mobile players like the Reliance Communications and the Tatas has accused that the government was favouring the GSM players while deciding the criteria for spectrum allocation and in its pricing.

The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers (AUSPI), the lobby of CDMA players, has questioned the Department of Telecom's decision to visit only GSM dominant countries, along with their representatives, to look at different models while denying a similar opportunity to CDMA players.

To have a level-playing field, AUSPI requested the DoT-appointed spectrum committee to visit USA, Japan and Korea also where CDMA technology is dominant.

"...it will be unfair to finalise any report of the committee till the (committee) members visit CDMA dominant countries," AUSPI said in a letter to the committee.

One of the CDMA operators objected to telecom secretary's noting which said "what has trips got to do with level-playing field? Visits are as per requirement".

DoT also said the spectrum committee is a multi- disciplinary consisting of members from IIM, IIT, C-DoT, TEC, licensing and economics wings of the DoT, with members from COAI and AUSPI as special invitees.