Telecom firms staring at possibility of excess backhaul spectrum fee

Currently, DoT allocates airwaves by administered price mechanism

With the department of telecommunications (DoT) allocating telcos the crucial “backhaul” spectrum — for last mile connectivity between towers through microwave linkage — by an administered price mechanism, telecom operators could be staring at the possibility of once again paying retrospectively to the government. 

This is because of a crucial rider inserted in the agreement: telcos will have to pay the auction-discovered price retrospectively if and when the earmarked spectrum is auctioned by the government. The clause was added because of the 2013 Supreme Court judgment, which directed the government to auction spectrum as it was a scarce resource. 

However,