That AUSPI (association of CDMA operators) and the COAI (associations of GSM operators) don’t see eye-to-eye is evident to anyone who’s attended a conference where both are present. Lobbying for government support for their patrons, they constantly take digs at each other, much to the amusement of everyone in the audience. A long standing debate has been the one around spectrum allocation. CDMA operators have often spoken about the technology’s superior spectral efficiency (when compared with GSM); a recent allegation was that China was serving 1.5 times more subscribers per MHz. The COAI countered this with the statement that Indian GSM operators are serving 300 percent more subs per MHz than China, though from a different statistical perspective.
Now the AUSPI has written to the telecom minister, alleging that GSM operators are using spectrum beyond the mandated 4.4 + 4.4 MHz. They’ve asked ministry to gauge the loss for not charging a one time entry fee for additional spectrum. Additionally, they’ve alleged that the COAI is presenting a misleading picture of spectrum allocation. We haven’t heard the last of this yet…reminds me of the Itchy and Scratchy show…well, not as violent, of course.
I’m told that the problem of fake numbers is now under control, after the government had mandated subscriber verification. Subscriber churn may not be accounted for yet, though. Telecom operators are allocated spectrum on the basis of number of subscribers, and it is alleged that they used to register non-existent subscribers in order to corner spectrum. In a way, that also allowed them to project decreasing ARPUs (average revenue per user).
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