'Govt must put its Spectrum maths right'

Bharti Airtel Ltd on Thursday stepped up pressure on the government for reviewing the spectrum allocation norms, hitting out at the way telecom ministry calculated the parameters for giving the airwaves.

"Government must put its mathematics right... Ignorance is not an excuse to change the norms," Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of India-EU Business Summit. Private GSM mobile players such as Airtel have opposed the norms of spectrum allocation as recommended by the Telecom Engineering Centre and do not want new players to be issued licenses in absence of assured frequency.

The Cellular Operators Association of India, the lobby of GSM players, has already petitioned telecom tribunal TDSAT challenging

the government's decision to alow dual technology for mobile services and also spectrum allocation norms as suggested by the telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Mittal also said that current stalemate over the spectrum issue would hurt investors' confidence.

"Foreign investment has played a key role in the growth of telecom sector and they (foreign investors) are a worried lot," he said.

Government has constituted a panel to review TEC report which suggested 2-15 times more subscriber base to be eligible for getting additional spectrum. Mittal said he and other players have made presentations to the committee headed by Additional Secretary, Department of Telecom and a final outcome from the committee was awaited.