The Telecom Commission will take the final decision on the quantum of spectrum that the existing service providers will be allowed to retain in the 900 MHz band in view of the forthcoming spectrum auction.
The Telecom Commission is likely to meet on October 17, 2012 and decide on the quantum of spectrum to be taken away from the incumbent operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular and resell it through an auction process in early 2013.
It will be examining three proposals on re-farming recommended by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). These proposals include the option of re-farming the complete spectrum held by the existing operators in the 900 MHz band, allow operators to retain 2.5 MHz spectrum or 5 MHz in the 900 MHz band.
DoT?s proposal on re-farming of spectrum is based on the recommendations made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
