The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is looking to invite, in June, bids from cellcos, telcos and ISPs to roll out wireless broadband in rural and remote areas, according to the Economic Times.
The newspaper explains that only one operator will be…
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is looking to invite, in June, bids from cellcos, telcos and ISPs to roll out wireless broadband in rural and remote areas, according to the Economic Times.
The newspaper explains that only one operator will be allowed to rollout a network in each circle but a second slot has been reserved for state-owned telco BSNL. The latter will reportedly have to match the price offered by the other bidder in each circle.
In early December last year, state-owned incumbent BSNL received a US$522m grant from the government to continue developing WiMax in rural areas.
The news broke a month after BSNL complained to the DoT that it could not continue to roll out rural internet services on a loss-making/cost-neutral basis without government support.
But in a notice to the DoT released early May, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) wrote that “BSNL is currently one of the service providers. If it is the executing agency including the maintenance of the network, there is a serious problem of the lack of level playing field vis-a-vis other service providers. This would be critical since the optic fibre network is envisaged as providing non-discriminatory access. There is a serious risk of anti-competitive behaviour setting into the network management.”
Instead, Trai is recommending the creation of a National Optic Fibre Agency (NOFA) “for planning, operation and provision of required bandwidths to its users.”
The rural broadband initiative is supported by the country’s Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF), which will provide financial backing to one operator in each circle for rolling out broadband services in villages, where there is currently no connectivity, by 2014. The project is expected to cost about Rs600bn (US$13.5bn), according to reports.
Bidders that obtained 3G and BWA spectrum last year are likely to be favoured during the process, the Economic Times wrote.
