THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a) Licences for providing Cellular Mobile Telephone Service
(CMTS) have been granted for various service areas in the
country, divided into 4 Metro City Service Areas and 20 Telecom
Circle Service Areas. The Licences have not been granted State-
wise, however, most of the Telecom Circles are contiguous with
the state boundaries. The names of the companies who have been
granted the licences and status of provision of service is given
in Annexure - I.
(b) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is responsible
for fixing of tariffs for Telecom Services including CMTS. As
per the information provided by TRAI, the Telecommunication
Tariff Order (TTO), 1999, TRAI has specified tariff for CMTS for
the standard tariff package. This standard tariff package must
always be offered to the subscribers and in addition, cellular
service providers may offer alternative packages also. At
present, the mandatory tariff package offered by cellular service providers
in Metros includes a monthly rental of Rs.475/- and air-time
charge of Rs.4/- per minute. In Telecom Circles the
corresponding package is Rs.500/- for monthly rental and Rs.4.50/-
for air-time. In many Telecom Service Areas the tariffs offered
by Cellular Service Providers are lower. The Cellular Service
Providers offer a number of alternative tariff packages with
distinct features, in addition to the mandatory standard package,
subject to the approval of the TRAI. As in January, 2002 there
were approximately 740 tariff plans in existence across the
country with different combinations of rental and air-time
charges. Subscribers are at liberty to choose the standard
package or any of the alternative tariff packages.
(c) The details of revenue received by the Government towards
License fees and wireless spectrum charges is given in Annexure-II
(d) to (g): The scheme for award of licences for CMTS
envisages multiple operators in each service area. Presently,
there are 80 licences owned by 26 companies including Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited/ Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited for 24
Service Areas as per list given in Annexure-I. In most of the
Telecom Service Areas 4 licences have been granted for providing
CMTS. As per the terms and conditions of the CMTS Licence
Agreement, no single company/legal person, shall have 10% or more
holding in more than one licensee company in the same Service
Area. A promoter company can not have stakes in more than one
licensee company for the same Service Area. This will ensure
that monopoly is not created in any service area.
ANNEXURE-I
Status of Cellular Mobile Telephone Service in Telecom Circles
and Metro Cities
S Service Area No. of Name of Licensee Company Service
N0 (Metro City/ License Started Yes /
. Telecom es No
Circle)
1. DELHI 4 Bharti Cellular Ltd. Yes Sterling Cellular Ltd. Yes Mahanagar Telephone Yes Nigam Ltd. Birla Tata AT & T Ltd. No
2. MUMBAI 4 BPL Mobile Communication Yes Ltd. Hutchison Max Telecom Yes Ltd. Mahanagar Telephone Yes Nigam Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
3. KOLKATA 4 Bharti Mobitel Ltd. Yes Usha Martin Telekom Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam Yes Ltd. Reliable Internet No Services Ltd.
4. CHENNAI 4 RPG Cellular Services Yes Ltd. Bharti Mobinet Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Barakhmba Sales & No Services Ltd.
5 Andhra 4 Birla Tata AT & T Ltd. Yes
Pradesh Bharti Mobile Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Barakhmba Sales & No Services Ltd.
6 Assam 2 Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd.
7 Bihar 2 Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Yes Ltd.
8 Gujarat 4 Fascel Ltd. Yes Birla Tata AT& T Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
9. Haryana 4 Escotel Mobile Yes Communication (P) Ltd. Aircel Digilink India Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
10 Himachal 4 Bharti Telenet Ltd. Yes
. Pradesh Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Escorts No Telecommunications Ltd.
11 Karnataka 4 Spice Communications Yes Ltd. Bharti Mobile Limited Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Barakhmba Sales & No Services Ltd.
12 Kerala 4 BPL Cellular Limited Yes Escotel Mobile Yes Communications Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
13 Maharashtra 4 BPL Mobile Cellular Ltd. Yes Birla Tata AT& T Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
14 Madhya 4 RPG Cellcom Ltd. Yes
. Pradesh Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
15 North East 3 Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Hexacom India Ltd. No Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd.
16 Orissa 2 Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd.
17 Punjab 4 Spice Communications Yes Ltd. Bharti Mobile Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Escorts No Telecommunications Ltd.
18 Rajasthan 4 Aircel Digilink India Yes Ltd. Hexacom India Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Escorts No Telecommunications Ltd.
19 Tamilnadu 4 BPL Mobile Cellular Ltd. Yes Aircel Ltd. Yes Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
20 Uttar 3 Escotel Mobile Yes
. Pradesh Communications Ltd.
(West) Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Bharti Cellular Ltd. No
21 Uttar 4 Aircel Digilink India Yes
. Pradesh Ltd.
(East) Koshika Telecom Pvt. Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd. Escorts No Telecommunications Ltd.
22 West Bengal 2 Reliance Telecom (P) Yes Ltd. Bharat Sanchar Nigam No Ltd.
23 Andman & 1 Bharat Sanchar Nigam No
Nicobar Ltd.
24 Jammu & 1 Bharat Sanchar Nigam No
Kashmir Ltd.
ANNEXURE-II
REVENUE COLLECTED BY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS FROM CMTS
OPERATORS TOWARDS LICENCE FEES AND WIRELESS SPECTRUM CHARGES .
(IN CRORES OF RUPEES APPROXIMATELY)
S. Year Entry Fixed Licence Wireless Total
No. Fee Licence fee as Spectrum
Fee Revenue Charges
Share
1 2000-01 - - 511.68 73.42 585.10
2 2001-02 1633.57 - 525.04 232.63 2391.24
3 1.04.2002 To - - 44.19 53.86 98.05
30.4.2002
4 1999-2000 290.86 290.86
5 Since - 6794.30 - 6794.30
beginning in
1994-95 till
30.4.02
6 Since 89.06 89.06
beginning in
1994-95 till
2000
Grand Total 10248.61
Note : In respect of fixed licence fee and revenue share, the above figures include interest wherein payments have been received after the due dates.
