Trai Likely to Submit Views on Spectrum Pricing in a Fortnight

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sought clarifications from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) regarding pricing and valuation of 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz airwaves.

"We (Trai) have received a reference from Department of Telecom on Friday and will try submit the reconsidered recommendations within the 15 day time-frame or even earlier," an official source said.

The final comments received from Trai on the matter will then be placed before inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission for a final call.

The next round of spectrum auction is proposed to be held in February 2015 from which government is estimated to garner at least Rs. 9,355 crores.

Trai had last month given its recommendations on valuation and pricing of 1800MHz and 900MHz spectrum bands, being used for 2G services, for the next round of auction.

The regulator had suggested about 10 percent higher price for spectrum in 1800MHz over the final bid price that was received in the February auction.

The authority had given its recommendations for 800MHz (CDMA) spectrum band in February. It had suggested CDMA spectrum reserve price of Rs. 2,685 crores per megahertz for auction, which is around 50 percent higher than the previous pan-India base price.

The regulator had also recommended selling radiowaves in the 2100MHz band along with the proposed auction in February next year. Part of spectrum in 2100MHz band is held by Defence and DoT is in discussions to get some frequencies vacated for 3G mobile services in this band.

Most of the spectrum which is proposed to be put up for sale is being used by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications across various parts of the country.