The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reiterated its recommendation of fixing a high base price for the upcoming auctions, say news reports.
The regulator had recommended a base price of Rs 36.22 billion per megahertz (MHz) for pan-India spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band. This figure is almost 10 times higher than the price at which 2G licences bundled with 4.4 MHz spectrum were allocated in 2008.
TRAI has also recommended that the price of spectrum in the 800 Mhz and 900 Mhz bands should be double the price of 1,800 Mhz.
The regulator also reiterated its recommendations on spectrum refarming and said that a refarming fund was necessary to compensate existing users when they upgraded their equipment.
This was in response to the industry expressing its concerns on the guidelines, on grounds that tariffs may increase considerably.
Thereafter, the Telecom Commission asked the regulator to clarify its stand on a few of the recommendations.
In this context, TRAI has argued that the increase in tariff can be absorbed by telecom operators.
It added that as per its analysis, the recommendations do not adversely impact the profitability of the wireless industry, the entry of new operators or the consumer.
