Indian mobile handset vendors have blamed GSMA for favouring Chinese handset makers alleging that the telecom body is offering them discounts when it comes to crucial code allocation fee.
The Indian companies including Micromax, Karbonn, Celkon, DataWind, Lemon, Ziox, Maxx and HiTech, have also demanded a full refund of about $5-6 million for their cumulative payments between 2010 to 2017, a period when the Chinese players were charged zero fee. The players are also seeking the intervention of the government in this regard.
GSMA on the other hand rejected allegations of bias but has agreed on the dispute. The dispute comes over a fee for allocating Type Allocation Code (TAC), or the initial eight digits of a 15 or 17-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number which is being used in all the GSM products such as mobile phones, tablets, and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
The domestic handset vendors are of the opinion that GSMA made an anti-competitive environment and that the Chinese firms which manufacture the majority of the world’s mobile phones were granted free TAC from 2010 to 2017.
“The GSMA is working with the Indian government and relevant handset manufacturers to understand their concerns. These discussions are confidential,’’ said GSMA.
