India's experiments in mobile licensing

Stephen D. McDowell and Jenghoon Lee

Telecommunications Policy, vol. 27, issue 5-6, 371-382

Abstract: India has tried several different ways to allocate portions of the radiomagnetic spectrum as part of its licensing policies for wireless services. An auction system, in which winning bidders were required to provide fixed fee payments for use of spectrum, was introduced in the early 1990s. This was replaced in 1999, after many companies could not meet license fee payments, by a revenue sharing plan. Given India's continued telecommunications policy objective of expanding service availability to all parts of the country at affordable rates, in 2001 the decision was made to allow basic service license holders to use wireless technologies with limited mobility to complete the local loop connections to subscribers. Spectrum used to provide these services was allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, but with the condition that services be introduced simultaneously in rural, semi-urban, and urban regions. India's different licensing arrangements reflect an ongoing negotiation and shifting regulatory bargain among public and private sector providers of India's telecommunications services, the government, and the actual and potential consumers of these services.

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