With the date for the 3G bids set, it’s time to get some clarity on the revenue aspect. Apart from spending big money to bid for the 3G spectrum, Indian telcos will have to shell out more if they secure the spectrum.

DoT has made it clear that a certain percentage will be charged to operators using 3G airwaves. They have also added that a current player in the market will have share 1% percent more as compared to 3% for the newest entrants.

However, this move has not been conceived well by most of the existing telcos. A two percent discount for old telcos comes because they already share around 2-6% of their revenues for offering 2G services and with an extra percent means now they’ll have to share anything in between 3-7%. Companies want an incremental share of revenues for using 3G services because 3G would be used by a niche crowd and a direct percent sharing means more money to the government even if the operator hasn’t used much of the 3G airwaves.

Source: ET