Telecom stocks gain up to 5 pc on TRAI move

Telecom stocks today rose by as much as 5 per cent after regulator TRAI recommended allowing sharing of all categories of airwaves held by operators.
Shares of Bharti Airtel surged 4.81 per cent to Rs 353.25 and was the top gainer among the 30-Sensex blue-chips.
Idea Cellular rose by 4.83 per cent and Reliance Communications was up 3.72 per cent on the BSE.
"We believe the recommendations would ensure better usage of spectrum held by existing operators. A modest positive reaction by telecom stocks today reflects the marginal benefit from the TRAI announcement. We maintain our positive stance on telecom stocks and continue to like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular," IT and Telecom analysts at IDFC said in a report.

"All access spectrum i.E. Spectrum in the bands of 800/900/1800/2100/ 2300/2500 MHz will be sharable provided that both the licensees are having spectrum in the same band," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had said in its recommendation on Guidelines on Spectrum Sharing yesterday.
At present, telecom operators have been allocated airwaves frequency in 800 megahertz (CDMA), 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz (3G), 2300 Mhz and 2500 Mhz (4G) for wireless telecom services.
The move to allow sharing of all kind of airwaves if approved by the government, will benefit incumbent players like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel and Tata Teleservices to bring down cost of spectrum ownership.