The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to clarify certain points of the Spectrum Management and Licensing framework, which will form the basis for spectrum allocation.
DoT has found variations in the points made by TRAI during the course of its communication with the regulator on the issue of charging the current price for spectrum allocated to telecom operators.
Prior to this, on February 8, 2011, TRAI had set April 1, 2010 as the applicable date for charging the current price for spectrum allocated to GSM players in the 1800 Mhz frequency band and to CDMA players in the 800 Mhz and the 900 Mhz (GSM) frequency bands.
Thereafter, on May 3, 2011, TRAI had said that the current price may be charged from the date of allocation in 2008-09, but subject to the outcome of various court cases.
The concept of current price was recommended by TRAI to determine the valuation of spectrum in the frequency band where an auction can be carried out to determine the price of spectrum. The current price is to charge for excess spectrum allocated to telecom operators beyond the prescribed limit, which in case of GSM players is 6.2 Mhz and 5 Mhz in case of CDMA players.
TRAI has said that no current price is to be charged from the existing operators for assigning spectrum up to 6.2 Mhz in the 1800 Mhz band and up to 5 Mhz for CDMA players during the validity of existing licences held by them.
TRAI has recommended that under the new policy regime after renewal of licence, spectrum allocated beyond the prescribed limit of 6.2 Mhz for GSM players and 5 Mhz for CDMA players should be withdrawn. However, DoT has doubts on the rationale for defining the prescribed limit.
