The government has not taken any decision yet on whether additional spectrum allocated to some telecom operators would be withdrawn.
NEW DELHI: The government has not taken any decision yet on whether additional spectrum allocated to some telecom operators would be withdrawn.
Sources told DNA Money that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has not recommended withdrawal of spectrum, but the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will examine the issue.
Even as the government committee reviewing the spectrum allocation norms is likely to consider the issue of withdrawal of extra spectrum, indications are that no drastic measures would be taken.
As to how some operators were allocated additional spectrum, a source in the DoT said that “the government has to first make an assessment on whether some operators actually have excess spectrum or not”. The source pointed out that “it is only one operator saying that some players have excess spectrum”.
Recently, Reliance Communications chairman Anil Ambani had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that excess spectrum allocated to some GSM operators (Bharti 21.4 Mhz, Vodafone 20.2 Mhz and Idea 12.6 Mhz) should be withdrawn by the government.
Ambani himself had offered to give up excess spectrum with his GSM operation Reliance Telecom (1.8 Mhz) in one of the circles.
Ambani had cited the example of UK’s telecom regulator Ofcom, and had pointed out that Vodafone and O2 were asked to surrender their excess spectrum.
While GSM players want the government to relax the spectrum allocation norms from what was recommended by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical wing of DoT, Ambani has requested the PM to make the norms even more stringent.
Ambani’s reason: Spectrum is a natural resource in short supply, and therefore should be handled with care. According to the Reliance chief, with the march of technology, efficiency of spectrum increases.
The point he’s making is that operators can make do with less spectrum. The chairman of the GSM biggie Bharti, Sunil Mittal, had written to the DoT secretary DS Mathur, pointing out that state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had been given spectrum out of turn and that it holds in excess of what it is eligible for. But, BSNL officials had argued that there should not be any question of withdrawal of spectrum.
Technically, withdrawal of spectrum is a very complex process, BSNL officials had said.
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