Spectrum auction: Telecom panel meets, but stays tight lipped

Industry source claims panel failed to take decision and Defence has not agreed to vacate spectrum

The inter-ministerial Telecom Commission had a meeting on Monday regarding the next round of spectrum auction, including finalisation of the base price.

An industry source said no decision was taken and the panel would soon meet again. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office has called for a meeting on the spectrum issue. The industry source also claimed the defence ministry has not agreed to vacate spectrum for commercial use.

“The Commission discussed the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the valuation and reserve price of spectrum to be auctioned,” said a source in the department of telecom (DoT).

If the defence ministry does back out, telecom operators will face a big spectrum crunch. Some, like Vodafone, could have to trim existing services in some telecom zones.

Last month, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar discussed the long-pending issue of spectrum swap and vacation for commercial use. Both were believed to have sorted the issue. Also, Prasad had recently said the issue was nearing a solution.

Trai had last Tuesday floated a consultation paper on valuation of the band. After comments from stakeholders, the regulator will provide its recommendations on the base price.

It stated: “DoT requested Trai to expedite the process for its recommendations on the reserve price of the 2,100 MHz band and related issues, so that auction of spectrum in this band could be conducted along with spectrum in the 800/900/1,800 MHz bands, scheduled in February 2015.”

Trai has also given revised recommendations on pricing for the 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands. It reiterated its earlier ones for the latter two and raised the base price by 15 per cent for the 800 MHz band. DoT had sent back Trai’s earlier recommendations on these bands for reconsidering some points.

The next round of spectrum auction is proposed in February.

The government is estimated to garner at least Rs 9,355 crore from sale of radiowaves. Telecom companies and Trai feel the auction should take place only when adequate spectrum is made available and the bidding should be held simultaneously for both second generation (2G) and third generation (3G) services.