The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is planning to release the recommendations regarding the third round of spectrum shortly. The regulator is in the last stages of finalising its recommendations on the valuation and price of the spectrum to be auctioned in the third round of the spectrum auction.
Earlier, the regulator had invited comments from the service providers regarding issues such as the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, time given to the successful bidders for rolling out services, and the method to be used for valuation and determination of reserve price of spectrum.
The last date for receiving recommendations from the industry stakeholders is August 29, 2013. Following which TRAI is likely to release its recommendations in 15 to 20 days. Before inviting responses from the industry players regarding the third round of the spectrum auction, TRAI conducted open house discussion wherein majority of the service providers participated. For example, Loop Mobile suggested that the government should do away with the practice of determining reserve price and instead make way for market determined spectrum pricing. Idea Cellular supported the former?s proposal and added that the spectrum to be auctioned should be started with lower bids. And it should be left to the market forces to determine the final spectrum price, however, TRAI could step in if it was of the view that the final spectrum pricing was not in line with the current market trends.
Other operators including Vodafone India and Bharti Airtel proposed that the E-GSM (extended GSM) spectrum in the 800 MHz band should be included in the upcoming auction. However, such a move is being opposed by service providers like Tata Teleservices Limited and Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL). Further, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular expressed their opposition regarding the government?s proposal to refarm spectrum in the 900 MHz band. According to the operators such a move will affect continuation of services and lead to incremental capex and opex for few of the players. However, operators offering CDMA services have supported the government?s decision on the issue of refarming.
