Tuesday, September 12 2006 11:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Telceom operators gearing up to offer Third generation mobile services will have to pay for separate spectrum.

A senior Department of Telecom official said whether there will be a separate service license to offer 3G services or not will be decided once DoT goes through TRAI proposals on 3G. But 3G services will carry a spectrum (wireless) charge.

Earlier, for similar services (like 2G and 2.5G), operators did not have to pay separate spectrum charges as these services was offered on the same voice telephony spectrum, however, 3G services need different band of spectrum, the official said.

Telecom operators said their current Unified Access Services Licenses allows them to offer 3G services, so there should not be any separate 3G licenses. Operators' opposition comes from their apprehension of a rising cost of 3G services as it will invite two kinds of charges -- entry fee and then revenue share from the second year of service onwards. If there is a separate license then, it will also be charged.

The Government have not yet decided on how this would be charged. Whether to charge through entry fee and annual revenue share or other methodologies like auction or beauty contest. Currently operators pay spectrum charges on a revenue share basis for the services at six per cent.

The official also said the Government's decision with regard to 3G services may come earlier than the comprehensive spectrum policy.

The Government will decide on the 3G issues faster as a national spectrum policy may take more time to materialise and, with defence forces gearing up to release about 45 Mhz of spectrum meant for 3G services by December, DoT wants to decide on 3G issues fast.