The committee has deliberated on a new criteria of spectrum allocation once and will meet in the near future to move ahead, official sources said.
NEW DELHI: Terming TRAI's proposals on reforms in licensing policy prima facie "reasonable", the Department of Telecom has already constituted a committee to frame new spectrum allocation criteria, in line with the regulator's suggestion.
The committee, with members from Telecom Engineering Centre, Member (Technology) of Telecom Commission, Wireless Planning and Coordination and Indian Institute of Technology, has deliberated on a new criteria of spectrum allocation once and will meet in the near future to move ahead, official sources said on Thursday.
It will soon invite members from both associations of telecom players -- COAI and AUSPI -- to participate in the meeting, they said.
On other proposals, the officials said as they cover crucial areas, which need elaborate examination, DoT may constitute a committee each on merger and acquisition issues and on allowing the use of GSM and CDMA technologies by a single operator in the same circle.
TRAI, while suggesting no cap on the number of access service providers in any service area, has proposed a new criteria for spectrum allocation to new as well as existing players.
It had asked the DoT to form a multi-disciplinary committee, consisting representatives from DoT or TEC, TRAI, WPC wing, COAI and AUSPI. The committee may be headed by an eminent scientist or technologist from a national level scientific institute.
The committee will look into ways suggested by the regulator to enhance the present subscriber norms as an interim measure so that the task of spectrum allocation is not stalled.
TRAI has suggested a revision in the spectrum allocation criteria where it has raised the revenue share percentage and subscriber base, making it more difficult for the existing operators to get additional spectrum.
In category A circle, a GSM operator will now need to have one crore subscribers to get 15 MHz of spectrum from the earlier 26 lakh. In B circles, the subscriber base of 21 lakh has also been raised to one crore while in C circles, the criterion has changed from 12 lakh to 80 lakh for 15 MHz.
In all the four metros, the operators now need 50 lakh users to get 15 Mhz of spectrum from the earlier 21 lakh (in Delhi and Mumbai) and 13 lakh (in Chennai and Kolkata).
TRAI has said GSM and CDMA operators may be given additional spectrum beyond 2x4.4 MHz and 2x2.5 MHz respectively after they achieve the required subscriber base and subject to reporting compliance of roll-out obligation.
The committee will also explore the one-time pricing proposal of Rs 16 crore per MHz for demand of spectrum for mobile telephony beyond 10 Mhz and increase of revenue share after 10 MHz by one per cent.
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