DoT asks TRAI to expedite 3G spectrum price recommendations

The government has asked the telecom regulator to expedite the process of determining the base price recommendations of 3G spectrum which it plans to auction in February, an official statement said here Tuesday.

"The DoT (Department of Telecom) requested TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to expedite the process for its recommendations on the reserve price of 2100 MHz (3G) band and related issues so that the auction of spectrum in this band could be conducted along with the auction of spectrum in the 800/900/1800 MHz bands scheduled in February 2015," TRAI stated.

The regulator said the telecom department is in talks with the Defence Ministry for vacating 2100 MHz and there are three possible scenarios under deliberation.

Spectrum may not be released by the Defence Ministry, which implies that no spectrum may be available in the 2100 MHz band for auction. Secondly, if Defence releases 5 MHz in 17 circles, in that case one block of 5 MHz spectrum will be available for auction in 17 circles. Deliberations for swapping 2100 MHz band spectrum with an equal amount of spectrum in the 1900 MHz band are also in process.

Thus, in addition to the release of 5 MHz spectrum in 17 LSAs, the Defence Ministry may release 15 MHz (3 blocks) on pan-India basis by swapping 2100 MHz spectrum for 1900 MHz spectrum, the sector regulator added.

The TRAI said stakeholders can send their comments on 2100 Mhz band auction by Dec 15 and counter-comments by Dec 19.