Right approach

Annual, need-based spectrum auction is a win-win for all

The latest round of telecom spectrum auction concluded in just two days, mopping up a little over Rs 11,000 crore in bid amounts. This showed muted demand, but not necessarily a lack of appetite for spectrum, a scarce, natural resource needed to run mobile telecom services. Moving forward, spectrum auctions should be more like this, balanced and need-based, rather than the public spectacle of the past when firms overreached themselves. Even as the Supreme Court in 2012 set the principle of an open and transparent auction of spectrum, a bidding exercise must not be seen as a