Dayanidhi Maran has made it clear that their is no fault in India’s spectrum policy. Qualcomm chief also offered to establish and fund a Telecom research institute in Chennai,India. Maran and his officials maintained that it is the handset cost and incompatability of CDMA handset with GSM technology that is scaring away consumers from opting for CDMA based services. Qualcomm has also hierd US Ambassador to India to lobby for the firm with IT ministry officials.
Soon after the meeting Maran, Paul Jacobs said
- There was no meeting of minds on the spectrum issue.
- The policy artificially influences operators’ technology considerations by actually rewarding the selection of the less spectrally-efficient technology and is causing distortions in the marketplace, such as the present case in which Reliance Communications reportedly must consider GSM so it can stake claim to double the amount of spectrum limits the ability of CDMA operators to pursue aggressive subscriber growth plans and introduce next-generation wireless
Reliance has also asked Qualcomm to make CDMA handsets compatible with GSM technology to which Qualcomm is highly reluctant and has always supressed the issue. My insiders tell me that Reliance-ADAG officials have already chalked out plans on converting CDMA handsets to GSM should their grandiose GSM plan turn into a reality.
- So far talks with Tata’s have also failed.
- Qualcomm and Reliance Telecom officials are expected to meet today.
