New Delhi, Nov. 1: The government has accepted the stringent spectrum recommendations of its technical panel, much to the displeasure of GSM cellular operators whose stocks took a beating on the bourses today.

The operators say the new norms of the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) — it raised subscriber requirements for extra spectrum yesterday, considerably higher than the telecom regulator’s proposals — will stall their expansion plans.

However, the TEC says the operators have not sufficiently used spectrum because they are unwilling to invest in infrastructure.

In a separate report, it has recommended more telecom towers and the use of Wi-Fi technology in places of call drops, such as in basements.

The TEC norms had an impact on telecom stocks. Barring Reliance Communications, all the others ended in the red.

The hardest hit was market leader Bharti Airtel. Shares of the company plummeted 6.32 per cent to Rs 942.95. MTNL lost 6.21 per cent to end at Rs 168.40; Tata Tele, 3.09 per cent to Rs 43.90; and Idea Cellular, 1.78 per cent to Rs 132.80.

The GSM operators are complaining of discrimination vis-à-vis newcomers. They have to invest more for new spectrum than the new players who will get the initial 4.4MHz spectrum at a lower outlay.

The operators, through the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), today said they would file additional affidavits before the telecom tribunal against the new norms.

Telecom ministry officials said they would not wait for these affidavits before presenting their case to the tribunal.

They will submit the TEC’s recommendations when they reply to last week’s COAI charge before the tribunal on discrimination vis-à-vis CDMA players.

The CDMA players, under the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi), welcomed the norms. “GSM service providers will now have to use spectrum more efficiently which they have not done so far,” said S.C. Khanna, secretary general of Auspi.

Analysts said it was necessary to understand as to how the TEC reached the subscriber figures mentioned in its report.

Telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal said, “No one has any clue on how the TEC has arrived at the figures, no detailed calculation has been submitted by the TEC and the entire exercise has been done in a non-transparent manner.”

The telecom ministry today accepted in principle the proposals of the TEC.

This means there can be minor changes at a later date after hearing the aggrieved parties. The operators are also questioning the relevance of the norms in the context of the recent allocation of spectrum to BSNL and MTNL.