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TRAI's recommendations on spectrum have confirmed the GSM industry's fears that the recommendations are a replay of the WLL(M) recommendations. The implications this time are even greater as what is now being recommended is the preferential and backdoor entry into 3G services for CDMA operators.

In early 2004, CDMA operators started claiming that they were being disadvantaged visà-vis GSM operators in respect of spectrum allocation and that they needed additional spectrum to offer data services. In particular, they have been seeking a separate additional carrier to offer data services via EV-DO, which is 3G for CDMA.

These claims are absolutely false and baseless. At the height of the WLL(M) litigation, the ABTO had stated in their written submissions in court that CDMA is 5.31 times as efficient as GSM. Thus, as per their own claims in court, 5 MHz of CDMA is equal to over 25 MHz of GSM spectrum. Thus, it would appear that if anyone is being disadvantaged, it is GSM operators. Was CDMA telling the truth then in court or is it telling the truth now?

The fact that GSM and CDMA have different capacities has been recognised even by the government, which has laid down separate subscriber-linked spectrum allocation procedures for both GSM and CDMA. These government guidelines for CDMA are actually far more lenient than those that have been prescribed for GSM. However, even as per these lenient spectrum guidelines, CDMA operators do not have any justification for even 5 MHz of spectrum in any service area except Delhi, where the largest CDMA operator has just become entitled to 5 MHz. This operator will be eligible for one more additional carrier only after one year or more.

Provision of any additional carriers now to CDMA would be grossly anti-competitive as it would enable them to offer 3G services immediately via EV-DO. Thus a backdoor entry into 3G would have been secured by CDMA operators whilst GSM operators would be kept waiting till the IMT-2000 spectrum is made available to all of them. This will give CDMA a tremendous first-mover advantage.