NEW DELHI, DEC 23: The Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has approached the cellular operators forum, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), for membership even as the latter has complained to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) against MTNL's entry in the field of cellular services.

The move is being dubbed as "smart" in some quarters and has created a flutter amongst cellular operators. The COAI has been caught in a quandry. If they accept MTNL as a member of the forum, their own move to fight MTNL's foray in the field of cellular services would die as they would not be able to fight against one of their own members.

On the other hand, if the COAI refuses MTNL a berth in the forum, it is likely that it will not go down well with the government especially the Ministry of Finance, and the DoT which used MTNL's bid in the field of cellular services as the USP for selling the recent GDR issue of the PSU. Moreover, refusing MTNL membership in the COAI would give it an opportunity to approach the TRAI stating its "honourable" intentions. In a letter to the COAI last week, MTNL has stated that "As a successor to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in Delhi and Mumbai for provision of telecom services, MTNL intends to provide cellular mobile telecom services in these two metropolitan areas."

The COAI has some common rules which have to be satisfied before any company is allowed membership of the Association. The basic rule in this regard is that the company should possess a valid cellular licence and have frequency clearances from the government spectrum allocating authorities.

MTNL's letter to the COAI cleverly tackles both these issues stating that the "recently amended licence" from the DoT has allowed MTNL permission to operate Value Added Services . The letter also states that MTNL has been providing "Radio Telephone Services on a small scale (refering to MTNL's Wireless in Local Loop experiment in Delhi) and now intends to provide the service on a larger scale". Through this MTNL has also made its position as a spectrum user clear to cellular operators. MTNL's bid to ener the COAI has also generated the speculation that it would choose GSM technology for its cellular services as all the forum members are members of the GSM club.

Some cellular operators regard this as an intelligent move by MTNL as it is likely to divide the COAI. While four cellular operators in the two metros of Delhi and Mumbai -- Airtel, Essar, Hutchison Max and BPL Mobile -- would be directly affected by the entry of MTNL in the field of mobile services, the other operators in state telecom circles are not directly affected by its entry. Sources within the COAI say that some of the operators are eyeing a joint venture with MTNL for entering the field of cellular services.Incidentally, though the COAI complained to the TRAI over a month ago, it is yet to send a formal petition.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.