BWA spectrum auction to enable govt to earn over Rs 5000 crore this fiscal: ISPAI

An immediate nod by the Government for an independent auctioning of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) license at the reserve price of Rs. 1750 crore shall not only fetch revenue for the exchequer but also boost e-governance one of the priorities set by the UPA government.

With even political leaders realizing that e-governance is the key to economic development of the country, the auction of license for BWA should not be held hostage to the auctioning of license for 3G as it would open the much needed revenue streams for the industry. It is high time that the government de-links auction of wireless broadband services using BWA from auction of 3G licensees.

For the auctioning of the BWA spectrum, the DoT has two slots of BWA spectrum in 2.3GHz band available and there is no reason why the BWA spectrum cannot be auctioned independently without linking it with the auction of 3G spectrum. The move is only going to enable the government to earn handsome revenue of over Rs 5000 crores this fiscal.

Rajesh Chharia, President, ISPAI said, “The inordinate delay in giving a go ahead is hampering the progress of telecom sector and also hurting the prospects of country's economic development, forgoing enormous, life changing growth potential in rural India. The delay is also denting the prospects of telecom industry as voice calls have ceased to yield profits and service providers are now increasingly eying value added services. The array of value added services that can be delivered through Broadband spectrum is large as compared to voice based services.”

“BWA has the potential to bring high speed data connectivity resulting in improved access to education — enabling people in rural and remote areas to take classes at far away universities besides improved access to medical services, through telemedicine applications-enabling people everywhere to have virtual communications to the top doctors and medical facilities” said Naresh Ajwani, Secretary, ISPAI. The economic development —enabling new jobs so that people can stay and find work in the places they live with closer community ties are also some of the important aspects.

Indian society needs mobile Internet and Broadband services now. India cannot afford delaying the process of BWA auction by linking it to 3G Spectrum issues around Defence forces issue. Indian BWA Spectrum allocation in 2.3 GHz band follows a global practice where services have been launched in many countries around the world and the same is true for spectrum allocation in India as it is ready for immediate allocation once the auctions are over in March 2010.

Growth and development of a nation is increasingly becoming reliant on advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) that establish and connect networks of individuals across geographical boundaries at negligible marginal cost. Though ICTs have spread rapidly in the last decade, penetration levels are insignificant in rural India, creating a 'divide' between those with high and low access. Digital empowerment of the society is only possible when proliferation of Broadband reaches critical mass as than our 70% population living in rural areas can benefit from Education, Telemedicine and Financial services enabled on the Broadband Wireless. This digital empowerment would also ensure digital democracy and schemes like NREGA funds would never get misused as the implementation would have desired application supports.
Overcoming this divide is only possible through digital inclusion that is- using technology as a vehicle to improve skills, enhance quality of life, drive education and promote economic wellbeing for all of society. We all are aware that the fundamental human right to seek, receive and impart information, enshrined in Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a prerequisite for modern development and BWA is an important tool which can ensure that.
Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services enable India to transform into Broadband Wireless India, contributing significantly to national GDP improvement and thus improving national competitiveness. BWA offers a most economic way of offering BB services for all strata of the society due to wireless broadband nature of the technology: Technology on IP basis, lowest CAPEX per subscriber and competitive devices.

The government was scheduled to carry out the auction of licenses for 3G and BWA spectrum in February' 2010 and as per media reports, the process has been postponed to August /September 2010. According to reports the auctioning for 3G spectrum is dependent upon the vacation of required spectrum by the defense forces. The vacation of the 3G spectrum by the defense forces is likely to happen sometimes in the last quarter of 2010.

At present the broadband penetration in the country is less than 5 % in India. The targets set by the DoT for penetration of broadband services have not been achieved due to various reasons. There are mainly two BWA service providers in the country BSNL and MTNL who are having extensive wire line access network in addition to the BWA spectrum in 2.5 GHz band. So without any further delay the government should give a go ahead to BWA auction so that overall objective of the Govt for the Broadband proliferation is achieved. The issues which are holding up licenses in 3G do not apply to BWA. So there is nothing which should stop government from giving its nod.