Lamenting the slow pace of policy initiatives in the Indian telecom sector, Marten Pieters, India MD & CEO, told TOI in an exclusive interview that the DoT stance in the case of Reliance Jio has not been fair to other telecom operators, which are paying a higher spectrum fee for offering voice services. The statement by the company's top representative in India comes at a time when it has served an arbitration notice on the government over the Rs 20,000-crore tax demand (which includes penalties) that arose from its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa's stake in Hutchison Essar.
"It is completely unfair and unjust," he said, pointing out the previous UPA government's Cabinet decision to maintain SUC for 4G operators like Reliance Jio at 1% even as telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea shell out a uniform 5% on any new spectrum bagged in auctions.
Pieters also questioned the government decision taken during 2013 to allow Reliance Jio to convert its ISP licence into a unified licence (to offer voice) for only Rs 1,673 crore — a price that telecom operators had paid way back in 2000 when the telecom sector was still young. The matter has since been flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which also questioned the conversion. "Is that fair? To me it sounds funny," Pieters, also the chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), said.
The Vodafone chief also expressed concern at the delay in allocation of spectrum that the company had won in the telecom auctions in February this year. Vodafone's 20-year licence for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata is set to end around November and Pieters said that the company "urgently requires" allocation of the new spectrum to shift its operations to the new airwaves. "We have decided to go to court on this... and this may not take too long," he said.
The Vodafone chief said that the DoT should pay "compensation" to the operator for the payment it has made so far towards the new spectrum auction. "Also, the change-over to the new spectrum will take some time and cannot be done so fast. So we want an extension — at least about six months — to our existing licence from the date we are allotted the spectrum." As of now, there are only 40 days left for the spectrum change-over deadline. "We have been bombarding the DoT with letters regarding this, but to no avail."
The Vodafone chief said that the company wants the DoT to take quicker decisions, especially on issues like spectrum auction. "To improve the quality of telecom services in the country and for rolling out our network and fresh investments, we want spectrum." Pieters said that accountability should be fixed on the DoT for its lapses and delays. "If we do something wrong, the DoT imposes massive penalties... But there are no sanctions and consequences on the DoT. It creates an imbalance."
He also said that the government should take a quick decision on the issue of spectrum sharing and spectrum trading. "These measures can help in effective utilization of spectrum and can also open up new revenue streams for stressed telecom operators like BSNL."
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