Special meet tomorrow on spectrum refarming

Telecom Commission discussion follows Montek note to Chidambaram on more discussion of details and implications

The Telecom Commission (TC) is to meet on Wednesday to discuss the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the spectrum refarming issue.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had referred the refarming issues to Trai. This was after Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on telecom needed to consult Trai before a final decision on this issue.

The meeting will also discuss Trai’s recommendations on the prescribed limit for spectrum, retention of spectrum on renewal of licences and telecom security policy, among others.

Besides the TC members, others expected to attend are the secretaries of the Planning Commission, Department of Economic Affairs and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

In its earlier meeting on October 18, the EGoM deferred a decision on refarming the 900 MHz spectrum. It needs to take a final decision before the auction scheduled on November 12, as decided by the Supreme Court. It has already sought detailed analysis on the issue so that it could take a final decision by November 5.

Trai has also been asked to clarify on its various recommendations on spectrum refarming, given at different times, with a detailed analysis. The prime issues include feasibility and desirability, logistics, prescribed limit for spectrum and its quantity, relevance and applicability after introduction of the market-driven pricing policy, relevance of the limit of spectrum retention on payment of the current price at the time of renewal of licences and amount of spectrum to be auctioned under the 1,800 MHz band.

After the previous EGoM meeting, Ahluwalia wrote to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who heads the EGoM, that the panel should seek further Trai advice on the logistics of an orderly migration of services presently being provided in the 900 MHz band into 1800 MHz or any other bands, before the due date of expiry of the present licenses beginning in 2014. The EGoM was also asked to consider a comprehensive note from DoT after getting the Trai advice.

Though all stakeholders had agreed on the need for refarming, they wanted more consultation on the details. It was also mentioned that the TC had never considered a detailed paper on the best method, taking into consideration the international experience.

In 2010, Trai had recommended refarming of the 900 MHz band as one of three measures to choose from. The Cabinet has already permitted refarming as part of the new telecom policy. The three measures are: Permitting operators to retain up to 5 MHz of spectrum, allowing them to retain only 2.5 MHz, and refarming all spectrum.