The decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that there should be no discrimination between the CDMA and GSM operators on 3G spectrum and asked for spectrum bidding was hailed by CDMA operators as this would make CDMA services more competitive than the GSM services.
CDMA carriers also said CDMA services are more spectrum-efficient than the GSM services as a result it would offer better 3G services at a better price.
The recommendations are consistent with the fair and transparent manner for allocating the scarce spectrum, the CDMA Development Group (CDG) said supporting the TRAI recommendations.
It also wanted similar policy for allocating spectrum for 2G mobile services. Presently, CDMA service providers are provided with half the spectrum allocated to GSM operators.
By subjectively allocating 2G spectrum on an incremental basis based on an operators reported subscriber numbers and a dated spectrum efficient analysis, CDMA operators are constrained to only half of the amount of spectrum available to GSM operators, the CDMA development group said.