Am at the TRAI open forum discussion on spectrum, though I missed more of the morning discussion since I was shuttling between the ASSOCHAM conference and Yahoo-Tyroo press conference. A rather heated debate in progress at the TRAI open forum on the issue of capping the number of operators in telecom services. This is a game-changing consultation paper, and we’ll have more on it later.

A representative from HFCL made a rather compelling argument for allowing more operators: “Australia has around 2 lakh subs per operator. India has over 2 crore subs per operator. Therefore there shouldn’t be a cap on the number of subscribers, since potentially, India has 17 crore subscribers per operator. This justifies the low ARPU, the billions of dollars of investment being made in the country. Why should this be a monopoly of just 6-7 operators? I don’t buy the logic that with more operators, the quality of service will go down - with more players, the existing players will be forced to be more efficient. We shouldn’t compare the situation in Nariman Point (Mumbai) and Connought Place (Delhi) with the rest of the country. Spectrum is not being utilized well in this country - it should not be given free but there should be free competition. There are people who have applied for license, and these should not be denied. New spectrum should be given to new operators or there should be an auction for it – no one should get it free. Consumers will benefit from it - it is competition that brought down call rates to 50 paise per minute.”