Delay in 2G pricing Trai's fault, not ours, DoT tells PMO

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) says it has been unable to decide on the pricing of second-generation (2G) spectrum due to dallying by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had asked DoT what had happened to Trai’s recommendations on the subject. DoT has told the PMO the first set of recommendations from Trai came on May 11, after which the sector regulator asked it to await some more recommendations on spectrum pricing and refarming. Which, complains DoT, are yet to come.

Trai says it is in the process of taking expert advice to work out the 2G spectrum pricing formula. It had, in May, suggested linking the 2G spectrum price with the price discovered through auction of 3G spectrum. It also recommended refarming of the 900 Mhz spectrum (held by market leaders Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, among others). Trai also suggested the operators be made to pay market rates for spectrum when their licences become due for a 10-year renewal from 2014.

The recommendations were severely criticised by existing telecom service providers. The linking of 2G spectrum with the 3G auction price had started a controversy: the opposing view was that 2G prices could not be linked with those of 3G, since these were different technologies, with 3G thrice as efficient.

DoT, subsequently, set up a committee chaired by the member (technology), Telecom Commission, the highest policy-making body of DoT, to deliberate on the recommendations. But the committee is waiting for Trai’s further views.