Tata Teleservices to surrender excess spectrum

Tata Teleservices will surrender telecom spectrum beyond 2.5 mega-hertz in all circles except Delhi and Mumbai in its "protest" against the government's move to charge one-time fee for airwaves beyond this threshold, the telecom firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company will retain 3.75 MHz of spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai for which it will pay a one-time fee to the government.

"Tata Teleservices, under protest and without prejudice, has intimated its decision to the department of telecommunications to surrender spectrum in the CDMA 800 MHz (band) beyond 2.5 MHz in all circles except Mumbai and Delhi," the statement said.

"In these two metros, the company will retain one additional carrier (1.25 MHz) beyond 2.5 MHz for the balance period of licences," it further said.

The government had imposed a one-time spectrum fee on telecom companies holding airwaves above 2.5 MHz in the 800 Mhz band used by CDMA operators from January 1 this year.

As per the order, the charges will be levied on additional spectrum for the rest of the licence period and operators not willing to pay these charges will be allowed to surrender their spectrum held above 2.5 Mhz.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has issued rates to be charged annually for each megahertz of frequencies, based on the reserve price that was fixed for spectrum auction held on March 11.

"The company stands committed to ensuring that this will not adversely affect network or service quality and is looking to deploy additional capex to offset the reduced spectrum availability," the telecom firm said.

The company also sought and obtained stays against the DoT demand for one-time spectrum charges above 2.5 MHz in the 800 MHz band in Kolkata and Mumbai High Courts, it added.