The Department of Telecom (DoT) has urged the Cabinet Secretariat to expand the terms of reference of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to include the Trai proposals on spectrum management and licensing framework.
The EGoM headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had earlier decided on the modalities of and the time-lines for the Defence forces to vacate the spectrum, besides finalising the methodology for the 3G spectrum auction.
Earlier, the PMO had asked DoT to refer the 2G spectrum proposals from the telecom regulator to the EGoM.
"The PMO has asked DoT to consider widening of the mandate of the EGoM so as to include the Trai recommendations. Accordingly, it was submitted for sending a letter to the Cabinet Secretariat for widening the present terms of reference of the EGoM by adding the Trai recommendations on spectrum management and licensing," an internal DoT note said.
Earlier, the incumbent GSM operators had refused to take part in any further consultations with Trai with regard to the details of the spectrum proposals.
The PMO intervention came in the wake of the Trai proposal to charge a one-time fee from the existing GSM players for holding spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz. This proposal was criticised by the operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL for allegedly being biased towards new GSM players.
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Trai is currently in the process of formulating the exact pricing structure of this 2G fee which would be linked to 3G prices, a major bone of contention between GSM operators and Trai. GSM companies say they will have to fork out about Rs 20,000 crore if these proposals are accepted and will undo all the investments made by them so far.
Reliance Communication is the only existing player which supported the regulator, along with some of the new GSM players such as Etisalat DB.
A PMO note to DoT said: "Strong and divergent views have been expressed by various stakeholders in representations. It may also be desirable to take a decision on the recommendations after ensuring full deliberation on all aspects. An EGoM has been constituted on vacation of spectrum and auction of 3G spectrum. DoT is advised to consider widening of the mandate of the aforementioned EGoM to also include taking a view on the Trai recommendations."