TC finalises views on spectrum sharing, trading norms
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 11
To provide better services to mobile phone users in the country, Telecom Commission (TC) said today it has finalised its views on the much-awaited spectrum sharing and trading guidelines, which would also pave the way for checking call drops and lowering tariffs.
The views of the Telecom Commission would now be sent to the Cabinet for final approval by the end of the month.
“We have finalised our view on spectrum sharing and trading guidelines. We will try to send the norms to the Cabinet by the month-end,” Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said after a meeting of an inter-ministerial panel to deliberate on the issue.
The guidelines will be sent to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad first and after his approval a Cabinet note will be prepared.
The inter-ministerial panel also discussed the clarifications given by regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on some of its recommendations.
TRAI has reiterated its stand on most of the recommendations on spectrum sharing and trading guidelines, while clarifying that radio waves acquired through trading can also be shared.
TRAI had in July last year made its suggestions under which two licencees in an area with the same band of spectrum could pool or trade this scarce resource.
“The basic objective of spectrum sharing is to provide an opportunity to telecom service providers to pool their spectrum holdings and gain better spectral efficiency. Spectrum sharing would involve both the service providers utilising the spectrum,” telecom regulatory TRAI had said, while adding, “The leasing of spectrum is not permitted.”
TRAI also stood by recommendations of allowing operators to share all spectrum, including 3G.
The regulator also recommended allowing the trading of spectrum. As of now, only the government is allowed to allocate spectrum to telecom firms through auctions.
Once trading is allowed, it is expected to increase efficient use of radio waves by enabling telecom operators, who have a lower subscriber base or unutilised spectrum, to trade in it.
