India’s Department of Telecommunications will notify next week, the much-awaited rules to allow mobile phone companies to share spectrum among themselves, a top government official said on Friday.
The notification for spectrum sharing could be issued as early as Monday, or anytime during the week, Rakesh Garg, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event in New Delhi. The rules for trading of spectrum would come in by end of the month, he said.
The price for trading would be at latest auction price, news agency Press Trust of India reported on Thursday. Click here to read the story
The much-awaited rules would help smaller mobile phone companies with excess spectrum to share with their larger peers, who have less frequencies, to improve their network and services, according to India Ratings and Research. Less spectrum leads to congestion in call and internet traffic, resulting in poor service to consumers. On the other hand, the smaller players will now be able to offer high-speed internet services by sharing spectrum held by their larger peers, the ratings agency said.
Spectrum sharing positive for telecom sector: India Rating
The move comes at a time when Indian officials have been debating on reducing the problems of call drops. The issue has even the Prime Minister Narendra Modi concerned. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India has given mobile phone companies time until September 25, to resolve the issue.
Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday he hoped the issue would be resolved in a month’s time, even as the department’s networks audit late last month found 35654 cell sites were bad and 2904 sites had very low volume.