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It may prove a blessing in disguise for old operators
- The Supreme Court judgment cancelling 122 licences issued in 2008 might prove to be a blessing in disguise for the government and old operators as the former would reap rich dividends by auctioning spectrum while the latter would benefit from adding more subscribers and boosting its earnings.
- The eight companies that got 122 licences in 2008 are: Uninor (a joint venture between Unitech and Norway's Telenor), Sistema Shyam (joint venture between Sistema of Russia and India's Shyam Group), Etisalat DB (joint venture between Etisalat of the UAE and DB Group, formerly Swan), S Tel (a joint venture between Bahrain Telecommunications and Siva Group), Videocon, Tata Telecom, Idea Cellular and Loop Telecom.
- Chairman J. S. Sarma of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on said it would discuss and deliberate on how to implement the apex court directions of fresh auction of spectrum.
- In future, all licences will be Unified Licences.
- Following the old ‘first-come, first-served' policy in 2008, then Communications and IT Minister A. Raja gave away 122 licences to eight operators, which included six new ones, at a throw-away price of Rs.1,658 crore for a pan-India licence.
- In its audit report, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had stated that the government could have earned between Rs.57,666 crore and Rs.1.76-lakh crore had the spectrum been given via a market-driven process, while it realised only Rs.12,386 crore in 2008.
- Now the fresh auction of over 500 Mhz of 2G spectrum (cumulative in all 22 circles) would help the exchequer earn massive revenue.
- However, the revenue that the government would earn would depend on the demand-supply situation and the ability of companies to bid in view of the prevailing financial environment.
- However, the old operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL that have not been affected by the judgment would benefit by adding those subscribers that will exit their operators who got licences in 2008.
- Thanks to the mobile number portability (MNP), over 7-crore subscribers of these eight operators can now move to any other operator.
- As on December 31, 2011, Uninor had the highest number of subscribers among affected operators at 3.63 crore subscribers, followed by Sistema-Shyam at 1.5-crore, Videocon at 54-lakh
- But one worrying factor would be loss of jobs if any of these companies decide to shut shop. For example, Uninor is said to have 17,500 workforce and 22,000 partners
- However, on the policy front, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will now have some cushion while finalising two crucial points – exit policy for operators and merger and acquisitions (M&A).
- The fresh auction of spectrum is likely to see non-serious players exiting the telecom sector and also reducing the urgency of mergers and acquisition for streamlining the sector which has over a dozen players, the highest in the world.
Nurses, teachers most exploited in private sector, says court
- The Kerala High Court observed that doctors, nurses, and teachers in the private sector are the most exploited class and low paid.
- Even doctors who pass out MBBS after five year rigorous course were getting only Rs.5,000 in some hospitals as salaries and nurses a meagre amount
- Nurses in various hospitals in the State are on an agitation since the past few months demanding better wages and working conditions.
