Reliance to ask Tata Tele to fall in line on 3G

Reliance Communications will soon write a letter to fellow CDMA operator Tata Teleservices asking it to toe the industry's line on the pricing of 3G spectrum.

The letter comes after differences over the 3G pricing led to CDMA operators' body Association of Unified telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) skipping the meeting called by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to discuss the issue of 3G pricing.

Sources familiar with the development said the letter would suggest that Tata Teleservices “interconnect” with the industry and participate in the harmonious growth of the telecom sector and national teledensity targets. When contacted, Reliance Communications officials declined to comment.

Reliance Communications is also writing a letter to Trai to reiterate how the economic model it had suggested would help make 3G services affordable and meet the teledensity target of the government.

While Tata Teleservices has suggested a Rs 1,500-crore 3G licence fee for a pan-India rollout, Reliance Communications has suggested a hybrid model and a graded fee structure aggregating to a sum of Rs 300 crore for a national 3G licence.

It says with seven national operators, it would cover the government’s costs of refarming defence spectrum. Differences between the two operators on the bandwidth and pricing of 3G had led to AUSPI pulling out of the Trai meeting.

In another rift, Reliance FLAG has said VSNL was charging exorbitant amounts for its international bandwidth landing station access.

It added that VSNL was not abiding by the letter and spirit of a recent international tribunal award that had asked VSNL to provide FLAG access to the Mumbai landing station and allow it to upgrade its cable. FLAG sources said they would approach appropriate authorities in the matter.

FLAG has already written a letter to the communications ministry on Trai's recommendations to enforce tariff regulations on landing station access charges. The recommendations are pending with the DoT.