While the government debates the issue of whether or not there was a scandal in the manner in which scarce radio spectrum was granted to firms like Swan and Unitech — with the prime minister appearing to let the telecom minister off the hook even as the CBI raids his ministry — it is becoming increasingly clear that a quick solution needs to be found to allotting spectrum to telecom companies. Communications Minister A Raja, who was charged with bartering away spectrum for a song in 2008, has ensured that existing mobile phone players have precious little spectrum on which to provide high-quality connectivity to even existing users, leave alone new ones being added by the millions each month. Just how serious the shortage is has been brought out by a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) consultation paper, which points out that while the industry needs, for all manner of services, including mobile TV, a total of around 582 MHz of spectrum in another five years, the total that’s available ranges from a minimum of 287 MHz to a maximum of 453 MHz. That itself is a yawning gap but, as the paper points out, what’s been allotted so far is far less. The GSM-mobile lot (Airtel, Vodafone, among others) have a total of 133.6 MHz and the CDMA-mobile lot (Reliance, Tata, among others) have another 27.5 MHz. In other words, the need for the government to coordinate between its various arms and to get this spectrum is huge. Fortunately, for the spectrum-starved industry, Mr Raja has finally agreed to a January 14 auction for 3G spectrum, though given how many times this has been put off in the past, it’s best not to count one’s, well, radiowaves, till they are actually made available.
The 3G auction, if and when it finally does happen, will take care of the immediate shortage but, as Trai points out, the shortage is far more acute than has been envisaged. While the government needs to move to sort this out, including getting alternative communication pathways working for the armed forces, the other issue before Trai is whether to auction the remaining 2G spectrum or not. Hopefully, Trai will come out with its recommendations on the matter sooner rather than later, and the government will accept them equally promptly. It has to, however, be pointed out that in its August 28, 2007 recommendations — the ones used by Mr Raja to justify his spectrum allocation — Trai had also recommended that the government delink the issue of awarding spectrum along with mobile licences. Indeed, in May 2009, a telecom ministry committee recommended this all over again and said that all future spectrum be auctioned; and that the “extra” spectrum firms like Bharti which secured in excess of the 6.2 MHz that their licences guaranteed, be paid based on the prices secured in the 3G auction. Instead of accepting this report and implementing it quickly, the government has asked Trai for its recommendations on the matter. Assuming Trai endorses the view, it will be a travesty if the government loses even this opportunity for cleaning up its act.
