India's Supreme Court orders the country's 2G licences to be scrapped and re-auctioned

The Supreme Court of India has cancelled 122 telecoms licences that were awarded in a 2008 spectrum sale.

The government has claimed that corruption marred the sales process, with former cabinet minister Andimuthu Raja currently in jail awaiting trial for his role in the scandal.

In line with this the Supreme Court of India has now declared the licences are null and void and has ordered an auction to be held within four months.

The 122 licences issued 2008 were sold on a first-come first-serve basis at prices predetermined in 2001. However, the Supreme Court has now ruled that the government should not have issued the licenses on such a basis and should instead have carried out a public, transparent auction, which would have meant the country could generate more revenue from the spectrum sale and would minimise corruption.

The 2008 sale was primarily intended for new entrants to the market, but also for some existing larger operators to expand their coverage. Norway’s Telenor and Indian real estate company Unitech set up a joint venture in India, Uninor, which was allotted 22 pan-India licences during the sale. Loop Wireless, Videocon and Sistema-Shyam were also awarded 21 licences each, while Etisalat bought 15 licences. Idea, S Tel and Tata were awarded nine, six and three licences respectively.

Each of the operators are allowed to continue offering their services for the next four months, while the country’s telecoms regulator TRAI devises new guidelines for the auction process and determines what to do with the transition of assets between current licence-holders and new licencees. However, they could all potentially stand to lose their investments, according to Anubhuti Belgaonkar, senior analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media.

“It’s looking like they could lose all of their investments, but once the regulator comes out with guidelines, there will be more clarity about what kind of losses these operators will make. It’s still not very clear,” she said.

Uninor said in a statement that it is “shocked” that it will be penalised despite not being involved in any wrongdoing.

“We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the government process we were asked to,” the company said in a statement.

“We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalised for faults the court has found in the government process. We will study the order in detail and exercise all options available to ensure that Uninor continues to operate in India.”

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court is continuing to probe the matter.

Airtel plans to expand in Africa

Indian operator Bharti Airtel will rely on Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to expand, plan and operate its mobile networks in seven African countries as part of a deal struck between the two companies.

The operator, which provides services in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, has contracted NSN to expand its 2G (GSM/EDGE) networks and deploy 3G networks in the countries. NSN will manage end-to-end network operations, including planning, designing and implementing the 2G and 3G networks for Airtel.

The company will provide its energy-efficient Flexi Multiradio Base Stations to expand network coverage to under-served areas, including smaller towns and villages in  Madagascar, Malawi, Congo Brazzaville, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

“This partnership will further enable us to rapidly expand our network coverage and provide high-speed wireless internet connectivity to our customers,” said Manoj Kohli, CEO and joint managing director at Bharti Airtel.

NSN will use its FlexiHybrid microwave radio to address growing data traffic and provide the platform for a cost-effective transition to 3G, and potentially 4G networks in the future.

It will also provide its NetAct network management system for to enable network monitoring and management.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Belgium's fourth 3G licence has been granted to a consortium

Belgium’s fourth 3G licence has been granted to the sole bidder for it, Telenet Tecteo Bidco. The consortium, made up of cable operators Telenet and Tecteo, paid €71.5m for the licence, which also gives options on GSM spectrum.

As the sole bid, Telent Tecteo Bidco’s offer matched the minimum pricetag placed on the spectrum by regulators. Bidco now has two blocks of 14.8MHz in the 2.1GHz band; it also intends to avail of its option to buy two blocks of 4.8MHz in the 900MHz band, along with 2x10MHz in the 1800MHz band – both highly-prized – for which it will pay €31.5m in 2015.

The licences are technology-neutral and, as such, are likely to see the consortium make a play in the LTE space. Telenet, an MNVO with over 200,000 customers, has said the purchase means it is now “ideally positioned to benefit from the anticipated growth in mobile data.” Belgium lags behind the rest of Europe on mobile penetration rates, thanks largely to low smartphone usage and a relative lack of competition between the existing operators. Telenet has been looking to expand its reach in Belgium, offering competitive pricing plans and handset subsidies; in a press release, the telco said its bid for the spectrum signified its intention to improve its “challenger position in the mobile market and will allow for the roll-out of high-speed mobile data networks such as LTE.” It added that owning spectrum gave it an insurance policy against future capacity constraints as well as opening up the possibility of partially or fully trading its assets.

The company said it intends to seek “more intense collaboration” with existing operators. Payment for the licence is to be made on an annual basis over the lifetime of the usage rights agreement, which expires in 2021, along with the other 3G licenses awarded to date.

In related news, leading local operator Belgacom has started upgrading its mobile network to LTE. The company said a limited group of Belgacom professional customers will be able to use the service immediately via USB modems, although the company will not launch a commercial offer proper until there are enough devices on the market that support 4G and there is sufficient demand from consumers and companies.

Belgacom is using the existing 1.8 GHz frequency band for the 4G rollout with coverage in Hasselt, Mons, Waver and the industrial park of Haasrode.

The operator has also partnered with with Spanish company Fon with an eye to building the largest wifi community in Belgium. Currently, the Fon Community has more than four million members worldwide and Belgacom will offer this service to its internet customers before the end of the year.

Published by ZTE Corporation

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