DoT committee for 2G spectrum allocation, pricing

The committee is be headed by Subhod Kumar, Additional Secretary, DoT and has other senior officials from the department besides professors from IITs, IIMs, sources said.

The terms of reference of the committee, formed yesterday for submitting recommendations to the government, are to assess the demand of spectrum for GSM, CDMA and 3G based on projected growth of the Indian telecom sector and availability of the radio waves.

The committee is also expected to recommend steps to bridge the gap between availability and demand of spectrum by re-farming and other technological and innovative methods.

It would also suggest ways for spectrum transfer charges in case of mergers and acquisitions and other cases involving effective use of spectrum of one licensee by another through transfer, sub-licensing and any other means.

The other terms of reference are to suggest methodology to be followed for allocating spectrum for access services and rewarding players for efficient use of radio waves and penalising them for poor use.

The 2G spectrum allocation process has seen considerable controversy with some operators saying, beyond the start-up (4.4 Mhz in case of GSM) operators should pay for additional spectrum. GSM players said they have already paid substantial amount for the given spectrum.