Spectrum sharing, trading guidelines by year-end: Prasad

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Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the guidelines for telecom spectrum trading and sharing will be in place by the end of the year.
"Guidelines will be in place by end of year on spectrum trading and sharing," Prasad said at the press conference marking the first 100 days in the ministry.
In July, telecom regulator Trai had recommended allowing sharing of all categories of radiowaves held by operators including those allocated at the old price of Rs 1,658 crore or assigned without auction, a move that could help companies significantly reduce cost of providing mobile services.
Trai had suggested that all access spectrum in the bands of 800/900/1800/2100/2300/2500 MHz will be sharable provided that both licensees are have spectrum in the same band.

At present, telecom operators have been allocated radiowave frequencies in 800 MHz (CDMA); 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz (GSM 2G/3G); 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz (4G) for wireless telecom services.
Operators are allowed to share passive infrastructure like mobile towers, which has helped them in reducing operational cost but not active infrastructure like spectrum.