Mobile users form 89 percent of total Internet subscriber base in Q2 2013: TRAI:

Driven by growth in Internet usage through mobile phones, total Internet subscriber base in the country increased by 20.38 percent to reach 198.39 million during the April-June quarter.

"Total number of Internet subscribers including Internet access by mobile device subscribers increased from 164.81 million at the end of March'13 to 198.39 million at the end of June'13, registering a quarterly growth of 20.37 percent," TRAI said in its latest performance indicator report.

The total telecom subscriber base at the end of the quarter was 903.09 million, out of which 873.36 million were mobile subscribers.

Internet usage through mobile phones dominated the total subscriber base with about 89 percent share.

Total number of subscribers who accessed Internet via mobile devices stood at 176.5 million during the quarter ended June 2013.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel led Internet access through mobile phones with 26.16 percent market share, followed by Vodafone - 23.34 percent. Idea Cellular's share was 18.94 percent and Reliance Communications had 16.25 percent market share during the reported quarter.

Shares of rest of the players in mobile segment stood in single digit.

The number of Internet subscribers, excluding mobile Internet users, increased from 21.61 million at the end of March to 21.89 million at the end of June, up 1.3 percent.

Broadband subscribers, excluding mobile devices, grew by 0.98 percent to 15.2 million at the end of June.

DoT may issue spectrum auction documents in 2-3 weeks:

The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to issue within 20 days a notice inviting applicants for the sale of 2G spectrum in the third round of auctions planned to be held in January.

"In about 15-20 days time from now," Telecom Secretary MF Farooqui told reporters in New Delhi when asked in how many days the notice inviting application (NIA) will be out.

He said the government will be auctioning around 400 Mhz spectrum in 1800 MHz band and 45 Mhz in 900 MHz band.

"At the moment, what we are going ahead with is 1800 Mhz and 900 Mhz, so about 400 Mhz totally in 1800 Mhz band and about 45 MHz in 900 Mhz band (will be auctioned)," he said.

The government is expecting a minimum of Rs 11,000 crore from the upcoming spectrum auction.

The government has set revenue target of Rs 40,874.50 crore this fiscal from spectrum, including auction amount, one-time spectrum charge and annual regular licence fee.

Asked about the auction in the 800 Mhz band, used by CDMA service providers, Farooqui said DoT will write to sectoral regulator Trai asking for recommendations on the reserve price this week.

"DoT will write to Trai this week," he said but refused to give a timeline for the auction.

"The timeline, I cannot predict... Once we have the reply from Trai, we have to examine this, it will have to go to the Telecom Commission and EGoM and so on... I don't want to make a commitment about the timeline," he added.

Trai had not recommended a reserve price for 800 MHz band and asked DoT to explore the feasibility of EGSM band for this frequency.

COAI asks DoT to implement TRAI's recommendations on spectrum usage charges:

Reiterating its endorsement for sectoral regulator TRAI's recommendations to implement a flat spectrum usage charge (SUC) on operators, GSM industry body COAI Thursday requested Department of Telecom (DoT) to consider the regulator's proposal.

In a letter to DoT Secretary M F Farooqui, COAI said: "The recent TRAI's recommendations of flat spectrum usage charge is a step in the right direction to address the ongoing anomalies without giving any special consideration to one set of operators."

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had suggested that the annual SUC be set at a flat 3 percent of companies' revenue for the spectrum they buy from auctions. Currently, companies pay anything between 3 percent and 8 percent depending on their spectrum holding.

COAI said the current policy of escalating charges discourages purchase of spectrum, 'distorts spectrum auction', skews technology choices that may result in lower revenues for the government.

"Different SUC for different spectrum bands creates anomalies and discrimination apart from creating non-level playing field," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said in the letter.

The GSM operators body said in the new regime where spectrum is being sold against the upfront charges through auction, an escalating SUC leads to a wide variation in the total cost of spectrum, paid over the period of the licence by the existing players in comparison to new players.

"we sincerely request DoT will correct the discrepancies in the current practise of levying SUC and consider TRAI's proposal which is aimed at ensuring a level playing field as well as long term benefits to the exchequer as also boost investor confidence," it added.

Raising issues over TRAI's suggestions on spectrum charges, Reliance Jio Infocomm had said they will make the third round of auction inconsistent and legally untenable.

The Mukesh Ambani-led firm has also alleged that TRAI recommendations favour incumbent telecom operators.