COAI seeks sops from DoT

"With more lower end users joining the network work each month, the average is further under pressure," he said. "None of the cell phone companies will make money if the present situation continues. Instead of four year break-even period, we will be able to make money only at theend of seventh year," he said.

"Due to recession, the growth in the Indian market is not up to our expectations. Hence, we would like the government to give us more incentives," he said. COAI thus reiterated its demands for the extension of licence period from the present 10 years to 15 years or more and a two year moratorium on the payment of licence fees.

"While today there are about 8,00,000 cellular subscribers in the country, in real terms they are worth only half their number as the billing per subscriber is about 40 to 50 per cent lower than projections," said Ramachandran.

At present, the average air time usage per subscriber per month is about 140 to 150 minutes in the metros and is lower in the state circles. "The average usage per subscriber is also falling as more and more subscribers in the lower end buy cellular just for novelty," said Ramachandran. "There was a need to have more usage by subscribers rather than more number of subscribers."

In order to weed out the non-users, COAI hasasked the government to increase the rentals from the present Rs 156 to Rs 575 per month. "This will help us to get rid of non-users who are a burden to the network," he said.

The COAI expressed deep dismay over the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) move to curb the powers of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). According to the association, at a time when the cellular industry is already battling serious problems like project viability and cash flow, the DoT move could derail the entire process of liberalisation in the telecom sector.