Pricing spectrum

Airwaves for satellite-based services should be allocated judiciously

The highly stressed telecom industry finds itself in the midst of another policy confusion; this time it’s related to spectrum allocation for satellite-based services. Ahead of the much-awaited 5G spectrum auction in 2022, the current controversy must be resolved by the government and the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) at the earliest through a sound policy that makes a clear distinction between terrestrial telecom services and satellite broadband, and how they use airwaves in the two modes. The Supreme Court judgment of February 2, 2012, in the 2G case had held that spectrum was a scarce resource