New telecom policy to allocate 'non-commercial' spectrum at market price

The need for a new telecom policy was felt in the wake of global transformation in the sector

The spectrum meant for non-commercial use, mainly for defence, police, railways and public broadcaster, will be allocated at the “market-determined price”, according to the new telecom policy.

Broadly, spectrum allocation will be based on non-commercial captive use and non-commercial public use. The first category of spectrum is mainly utilised by defence or police for their internal purposes. The second category is used by the public broadcaster, Doordarshan.

“We want to ensure that nobody squats on the spectrum, it is not used inefficiently and is used for public purposes,” an official in the know said, adding the spectrum would be sold at a