Amidst rumors that Reliance Jio and BSNL may sign a pact on spectrum sharing, COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) has written to Communications and IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, demanding equal opportunity to all private mobile operators. In its urgent missive to the politician, the telecom lobby asks for every service operator to be given a chance to sign a deal with the state-run BSNL over trading and sharing of airwaves.
COAI represents the likes of Vodafone India, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and even Reliance Jio. While the last mentioned party hasn’t been openly named, speculations have been flying around about it being in talks with BSNL in order to engage the latter’s spectrum for 2G voice services. The Mukesh Ambani-led company is gearing up to launch 4G LTE for the first time, before the end of this year, and has a nationwide broadband wireless access (BWA) license.
According to ET Telecom, Reliance Jio claims it is not in discussions with BSNL over any kind of intra-circle roaming or airwaves sharing deal. Apparently, the news about COAI seeking Prasad’s intervention is inaccurate. No smoke without fire, as someone wise once said. COAI’s letter addressed to the Minister reportedly pleads for the government’s help in enabling a level playing field by delivering fair opportunity to all contenders.
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COAI has opined that the process of creating spectrum sharing pacts with BSNL should be executed in a transparent manner, and no favoritism should be shown towards a single telecom company. Meanwhile, Airtel is doing everything it can to brace itself against the impending impact of Reliance Jio’s entry into the 4G segment. It is currently prepping to open 1000 coco stores across India.