Trai's spectrum trading recommendations expected on Jan 27

Trai in Sept had proposed private entities be allowed to sell spectrum which as of now is done by govt only

Telecom regulator Trai is likely to come out with its detailed recommendations on spectrum trading by January 27 after final discussions with industry players on January 21.

"Trai is working on release (spectrum trading) recommendations by January 27," an official source said while confirming that the regulator will hold meeting with telecom operators on January 21 to discuss some points pertaining to recommendations.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in September had recommended that private entities be allowed to sell spectrum which as of now is done by the government only.

The Empowered Group of Ministers on telecom, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, is also expected to take call on January 27 on the key issue of spectrum usage charge, which will be instrumental in deciding the fate of auction starting February 3.

January 27 is also the last date for withdrawal of applications by companies which have applied for bids. The applicants include --Reliance Jio Infocomm, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, Telewings (Uninor) and Reliance Communications.

Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission in its meeting in October had given the in-principle approval to spectrum trading and the same was approved by EGoM. Trai was then asked to provide detailed guidelines that should be followed for trading.

The regulator had suggested that only those companies which participated in auction should be allowed to carry out spectrum trading.

Trai had said that "only that spectrum should be allowed to be traded which has either been obtained through auction or on which the TSP (Telecom service provider) has paid the prescribed market value to the Government.