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Telecom Commission Discusses Trai Recommendations on Spectrum Pricing

Telecom Commission Discusses Trai Recommendations on Spectrum Pricing

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 9 December 2014 10:43 IST

Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission (TC) met on Monday to discuss the next round of spectrum auction including finalisation of the base price.

However, it could not be ascertained if any decision regarding the matter was taken.

"The commission discussed the Trai recommendations on the valuation and reserve price of spectrum to be auctioned," a source in Department of Telecom (DoT) said.

Sectoral regulator Trai has submitted its revised recommendations on the pricing of 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz bands.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has reiterated its recommendations for 900MHz and 1800MHz bands while it has increased the base price by 15 percent for 800MHz band.

The DoT had sent back Trai's recommendations on 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz bands for reconsidering some points.

The next round of spectrum auction is proposed to be held in February and the government is estimated to garner at least Rs. 9,355 crores from sale of radiowaves.

Most of the spectrum which is proposed to be put up for sale is being used by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications across various parts of the country.

These companies will need to buy back radiowaves to continue their operations in areas where their licences are expiring in 2015-16.

Trai has also released a consultation paper on pricing of 2100MHz band, used for offering 3G services, as the government plans to auction this band along with 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz in February.

Telecom companies as well as the regulator have been of the view that the auction should take place only when adequate spectrum is made available, and the bidding should be held simultaneously for both the services - 2G and 3G.

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