The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), the GSM operators' body, has upped the ante in the ongoing war with the rival CDMA operators' body, Association of United Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), stating its allegations were "frivolous and baseless".
Earlier last week AUSPI moved the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) – the licencor for telecom operations in India - seeking cancellation of the alleged 2G spectrum allocated to GSM players. The association also moved the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) stating that DoT has allocated spectrum to the dominant GSM providers in violation of mandated limit of 4.4 MHz or 6.6 MHz as prescribed in the telecom license.
On its part, COAI sought the Prime Minister's Office intervention on the issue.
In a fresh salvo against AUSPI, the GSM operator's body has accused AUSPI of being "dishonest and misleading".
Accusing AUSPI of a "serious misinformation campaign" and confusion with regard to the allocation of 2G spectrum to GSM operators, COAI stated that such actions could only be seen as desperate attempts to pull down a performing industry.
COAI Director General T V Ramachandran stated that the license terms stated (under clause 23.5 and 43.5) that additional spectrum would be allocated as per guidelines issued by the DoT from time to time and that such allocations would be based on the principles of usage, justification and availability.
The license terms had been acted upon by successive governments, administrations and guidelines had been issued from time to time providing for allocation of additional spectrum to GSM operators to meet their growth requirements. These allocations had been made as per the laws of the land through government orders that were notified openly, followed equally for all operators and had worked successfully, he said.
The claims by CDMA operators were "anchored entirely on baseless assumptions and willful misinterpretation of license terms", he added.
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