Department of Telecom (DoT) has sought about Rs 5,600 crore from Reliance Communications (RCom) for liberalising 800 Mhz spectrum in 16 circles.
According to sources, the DoT had issued a notice on December 22 and asked RCom to pay within a month.
RCom had applied for liberalising its 800 MHz spectrum in 20 circles a few months back. The company, though is yet to receive any notice for the remaining four circles, where market determined price is not available.
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The four circles are -- Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
The DoT had already sought sectoral regulator Trai's views on liberalisation of spectrum in circles where market determined price is not available.
When contacted a Reliance Communications' spokesperson declined to comment.
To liberalise administratively alloted spectrum, telcos need to pay market determined price for the remaining period of the licence.
Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani had announced RCom was tying up trading and sharing of spectrum with Mukesh Ambani- led Reliance Jio including for the much-awaited 4G services.
Addressing the annual general meeting, Ambani had said both the companies were at "an advance stage of discussion" for finalising a nationwide spectrum trading and sharing arrangement.
In order to share or trade spectrum, telecom operators need to liberalise their spectrum.
The government had issued guidelines to liberalise the administratively alloted 2G spectrum, allowing operators to offer latest mobile services, including 4G, using the same radiowaves.
The spectrum will be liberalised for the remaining period of the licence terms held by the telecom operator. The telecom operator will have to pay auction determined price prorated for the balance validity period, as per the guidelines.
The government will levy latest auction determined price on the spectrum to be liberalised. In case auction price is more than one year old then the prevailing market rate would be determined by indexing the last auction price at the rate of SBI prime lending rate.
Mathews said that at the meeting, the cellular operators
sought clarification on "grey areas".
"We asked them to help clarify the grey areas of testing (RJio's trial connections comprises 1.5 million users), how long the testing can last, etc," he said.
Mathews said Department of Telecom has assured existing operators that it will have a "conversation" with telecom regulator "to clarify matters such as the requirements of testing, the duration of tests, and the protocol to be followed" and will try to resolve it.
Asked if operators would be willing to have a dialogue with the regulator on the outstanding issues, he said, "Yes. We will continue to respond to the discussion papers, to have a dialogue with Trai, and to engage with them."
On whether the association would still seek time from PMO - following up on their letter to Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Misra, yesterday highlighting the incumbent operators' concerns - Mathews replied in affirmative.
"We would like to meet the PMO and explain the context. We have requested for time and are yet to hear from them," he added.
