Spectrum rules in 2 days: Baijal

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will give its recommendations on the controversial spectrum allocations in a day or two - a move that would decide the future course of mobile services, especially third generation (3G) services.

"We will give our recommendations on spectrum in a day or two," Trai chairman Pradip Baijal said today.

He said the regulator has ensured that spectrum, a scarce commodity, was distributed fairly and no operator was left out. "While allocating frequency, Trai has ensured that India is synchronised with the rest of the world as per international telecom union guidelines," he added.

The two lobbies - GSM and CDMA - have locked horns over the issue of spectrum as both have said the 1900 MHz band be reserved for their respective technologies.

In the already allocated spectrum, equipment is not available to GSM operators to offer 3G services while it is available in CDMA services.

"As a regulator, we are clear there is a severe problem in getting spectrum for second generation of mobile telephony. When the spectrum is allocated for 3G, it will be up to the operator on how to utilise it," Baijal said.