Spectrum trading rules by month-end: Telecom secretary

The government will come out with spectrum trading rules by month-end, Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said here on Friday.

The government gave its nod on September 9 to the much-awaited norms for telecom companies that will help in trading radio frequency spectrum, a move that can go a long way in consolidating this scarce resource, improve the quality of service and even fetch revenues for airwave-surplus companies.

"The spectrum sharing guidelines have been prepared and sent to the minister for final approval and will be issued in a few days, probably by Monday," Garg said on the sidelines of an event organised by Confederation of Indian Industry.

"The trading guidelines will come by month-end," he added

Spectrum sharing got the nod from the government in August.

Under spectrum trading, the companies that have been allocated spectrum can transfer their rights and obligations to another party - a move that will allow better usage as the idle spectrum from the hands of one service provider will get transferred to one facing a crunch.

The quality of services are expected to improve once the spectrum sharing and trading norms are notified and the service providers start using it.