The Department of Telecom has asked companies that bagged broadband spectrum in the 2010 auctions to start offering services at the earliest. Six companies had won spectrum for offering fourth generation (4G) services but only one has started operations partially even after two years.
The DoT is worried that the delay in rolling out 4G services could lead to revenue loss for the Government.
The operators have to offer coverage in at least 90 per cent of each district in a circle by 2015. Therefore, legally, the Government cannot force players to start services before the five-year period ends.
But the worry is that none of the operators, barring Airtel, has even applied for the Wireless Operating Licence. This licence is required for the operators to start using the spectrum allocated to them post the auction.
So far only Airtel has started commercial services in two of the four circles. Airtel has commenced services in Kolkata and Karnataka but has not announced plans for Punjab and Maharashtra. Augere had announced a deal with Ericsson last year but has not launched services yet.
Aircel has said that it plans to start services by the end of the year. Qualcomm had got its spectrum only in April this year and then sold out stake to Bharti Airtel. It is not clear when Tikona and Reliance Industries-backed Infotel will launch fourth generation services. There have been reports of RIL’s launch early next year.
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