Telecom Commission to discuss spectrum pricing

Telecom Commission, the highest policy-making body of the department of telecommunications (DoT), will meet on April 30 to finalise the pricing of 700-Mhz band and timings of next round of auction.

In another development, DoT Secretary J S Deepak will meet all telecom CEOs on the issue of call drops and spectrum usage charges (SUC) on April 25. Currently, there are different SUC for different price bands. The industry has been demanding a uniform SUC rate for all the bands at three per cent which should be reduced to one per cent in phases.

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In its earlier meeting, Telecom Commission had asked Trai to give clarifications on the pricing for 700-Mhz, spectrum usage charges, partial auction of premium 700-Mhz band. Trai in its response this week reiterated the stance on auction of all available spectrum as well as the reserve price.

Trai said the entire spectrum available in 700-Mhz band should be auctioned in the upcoming sale as non-utilisation would result into irreversible loss to the government. It has recommended a record high base price of Rs 11,485 crore per megahertz for the 700-Mhz band, which would be auctioned for the first time.

DoT had asked Trai to reconsider whether all available spectrum in the 700-Mhz band should be put up for auction or split in two phases. Trai said it is of the opinion that the entire spectrum in the 700-MHz band is required to be made available for commercial use without delay and reiterated its earlier recommendation that entire available spectrum (2x35MHz) in the band should be put up in the upcoming auction.

Trai also reiterated its proposal regarding the pricing of 700 MHz band, for which it had proposed a base price that is four times of 1800 MHz band.