The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued its response to the back-reference received from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in respect of TRAI’s recommendations dated April 24, 2024, on ‘Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing’.
Earlier, DoT, through a reference dated December 7, 2021, under Section 11 (1) (a) of the TRAl Act, 1997, requested TRAI to provide recommendations on allowing sharing of core network elements such as Mobile Switching Centre (MSC), Home Location Register (HLR), IN etc., among telecom operators. Subsequently, DoT, through a reference dated February 10, 2022, mentioning its earlier reference dated December 7, 2021, informed that “to promote optimum resource utilisation among the licensees, it is proposed to allow sharing of all kinds of telecom infrastructure and network elements among all categories of service providers licensed under the Section 4 of Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for provision of authorised telecom services”, and requested TRAI to provide recommendations on the subject.
Considering the request of stakeholders to permit inter-band spectrum sharing and leasing of spectrum in the country, TRAI has decided to take up the issues related to spectrum sharing and spectrum leasing along with the issues related to infrastructure sharing in the stakeholders’ consultation.
After a comprehensive consultation with stakeholders, TRAI sent its recommendations on ‘Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing’ to DoT on April 24, 2024.
Subsequently, DoT, through a back-reference dated February 13, 2025, informed TRAI that as per Section 11(1) of the TRAI Act 1997 (as amended), such recommendations on ‘Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing’ dated April 24, 2024, where the government has reached a prima-facie conclusion that these recommendations may not be accepted or may need modification are being referred back to TRAI for its reconsideration.
