NEW DELHI, India-The Indian mobile subscriber base has doubled in a year-from 1.59 million subscribers at the beginning of 2000 to 3.1 million users at the end of the year.
But network operators fear a setback in 2001 if the government goes ahead with its move to allow fixed service providers (FSPs) to offer “limited mobility” in their service areas.
“We welcome competition. Let there be any number of players. But the conditions of the GSM license should apply to them all,” said T V Ramachandran, director general, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), at a press conference here. He said because license terms like entry fee and revenue share formula are different for fixed-service and GSM providers, it will be unfair to allow FSPs to offer limited mobile services using CDMA.
Ramachandran said if the government provides identical terms and conditions as FSPs, cellular operators would be in a position to offer mobile services at tariffs comparable to fixed-line tariffs.
