Bringing respite to mobile operators, the telecom department (DoT) has issued the spectrum trading rules which will let companies sell airwaves to other companies at last. Industry experts agree that the government’s decision is likely to come as a relief to loss-making and bandwidth-starved network providers alike.
The guidelines state that spectrum trading is restricted to frequencies in the 800MHz (CDMA), 900MHz (2G and 3G), 1800MHz (2G and 4G), 2100 MHz (3G), 2300MHz (4G), and 2500MHz (4G) bands. Furthermore, only radio waves for which the market rate has been paid to the government or bought through DoT auctions are allowed to be sold.
The 800MHz band purchased in 2013 by Sistema Shyam Teleservices is an exception to the last mentioned rule. The company will have to pay the difference between the airwave’s price in 2013 and 2015. The DoT also clarified that operators can now trade access spectrum, which are used to send wireless signals to phones, to other brands either in part or full holding at the level of telecom circle.
The authority further explained that all responsibilities concerning the sold bandwidth, like network distribution and fees, will be handed over to the company obtaining it. Additionally, companies are only allowed to vend spectrum two years after procuring it. According to a PTI report, telecom players are not happy about a transfer fee being imposed upon the buyer.
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The guidelines say that a transaction charge totaling up to 1% of the complete amount paid to acquire the spectrum will be levied on the purchaser. Providers have free reign to decide at what value they want to trade radio waves, keeping in mind the government can charge tax based on the market rate.
The spectrum trading guidelines should help to ease problems due to lack of airwaves such as call drops. Bigger brands will be able to offer better quality of services, and smaller ones now have an exit strategy to fall back on.