Big fight

New Delhi, Dec. 31: Spice Communications today cautioned the department of telecom (DoT) against allocating licences and spectrum to entrants before it.

The BK Modi-led mobile operator is ready to pay Rs 2,000 crore in licence fees and other charges as soon as the government issues letters of intent (LoIs) for 20 circles.

The GSM player said that under the current telecom policy, licences and spectrum were awarded on a first come, first served basis. Since Spice had applied in 2006, they were ahead of other players in the queue.

Spice, which operates in Punjab and Karnataka, had applied for licences in 20 circles in August 2006. The company has a subscriber base of over 2 million.

“According to official procedure, LoIs should be issued within 30 days of submission of applications. But these letters have not been awarded till now,” Umang Das, joint managing director of Spice, said in a letter to the DoT.

“The delay in processing our LoIs beyond prescribed time lines cannot be a basis for equating us with any applicant who may have applied for GSM initial spectrum after our date of application,” he said.

Das said any manipulation in the grant of spectrum, allowing others who had applied later to get the resource ahead of Spice, would be illegal and cause irreparable damage and loss to the company.

Entrants to the telecom business have become vocal in the allocation of LoIs, especially after the recent communication from the DoT indicated the possibility of giving spectrum on the basis of payment of licence fees.