Spectrum is frozen for lack of policy

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New Delhi: Mobile operators won’t get any spectrum beyond the start-up 4.4 MHz unless the government finalises a spectrum pricing policy, which basically means de-linking licence from spectrum and auctioning even the 2G spectrum.

This was made clear by the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Wednesday, while dismissing a Reliance Communications plea for 1.8-MHz extra spectrum in the Mumbai circle on meeting the subscriber-linked criteria.

In January, the tribunal had restrained the department of telecommunications (DoT) from allocating spectrum to operators—based on a DoT committee’s report—before finalising a policy on 2G spectrum allocation. TDSAT had also said the operators have a vested right to have up to 6.2 MHz spectrum.

Later, DoT had sought the then solicitor-general Ghoolam Vahanvati’s opinion whether it could allocate more spectrum to operators on the condition that a new policy, whenever announced, would apply retrospectively to such cases. The solicitor-general opined that there should be no allocation of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz till the government takes a view on the spectrum pricing committee’s report.

However, the TDSAT dismissal of RComm’s petition now makes it clear that DoT cannot allocate any spectrum to operators until a decision is taken on the committee’s report.

The spectrum freeze comes as a setback for RComm, which started offering GSM services in many circles two months back, and is ramping up the subscriber base. The other CDMA operator, Tata Teleservices, has started its GSM operations late, and limited to southern states, so is yet to exhaust the 4.4 MHz.

Interestingly, DoT has taken a view that it will get down to the 2G spectrum matters only after the 3G spectrum auction issues are settled. In the interim, DoT has referred the committee report to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for its views.

The committee, headed by DoT additional secretary Subodh Kumar with representations from the industry and Trai, basically calls for de-linking spectrum from licence and auction of even the 2G spectrum. It has even suggested spectrum trading between operators, with the government getting its share in such trades. This, it felt, would lead to consolidation in the telecom space with more mergers & acquisitions.