The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has accepted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendations to increase the number of subscribers required for spectrum alloca tion, making it difficult for mobile operators to access spectrum

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has accepted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) recommendations to increase the number of subscribers required for spectrum allocation, making it difficult for mobile operators to access spectrum easily. To encourage licensees to utilise spectrum efficiently, a spectrum enhancement charge, in addition to annual spectrum charges, will be levied at the time of allocation of additional spectrum (beyond 10 MHz for GSM and 5 MHz for CDMA). For each additional MHz, spectrum enhancement charges of Rs 160 million, Rs 80 million and Rs 30 million will be charged for Category A, B and C service areas respectively.