The Telecom Ministry is evaluating a proposal to charge telecom service providers an auction-determined price for spectrum held by them beyond 4.4 MHz of start-up airwaves.
"We will have to wait for a final decision, but there had been one recommendation that going forward, charges will be levied over 4.4 [MHz spectrum]," Telecom Commission Chairman and Department of Telecommunications Secretary R Chandrashekhar told reporters on sidelines of an IAMAI event.
"The commission has favoured the option of auction in the matter of determining price," he added.
The Telecom Commission's recommendations are based on proposals made by sectoral regulator Trai in May, 2010, on the basis of a review of the spectrum management and licensing framework.
In its recommendations, Trai said the government should charge the 'current price' for excess spectrum allocated to telecom operators beyond the prescribed limit, which in the case of GSM players is 6.2 MHz, while it is 5 MHz in case of CDMA players.
As per Trai's recommendations, the current price was be charged for spectrum allocated after April 1, 2010, to GSM players in the 1,800-MHz frequency band and CDMA players in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz (GSM) frequency band.
Under the present licence conditions, telecom service providers are provided 6.2 MHz of spectrum bundled with their licence, out of which 4.4 MHz is given to them as start-up spectrum.
However, the government is working on new licencing regime under which it is proposed to de-link spectrum from licences and telecom players will have to secure spectrum by participating in an auction.
