TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) is apparently expected to give the nod to sharing of all spectrum won by telecom companies for providing mobile services. According to the present rules governing the system, network operators are allowed to make deals over sharing of passive, but not active infrastructure.
This means companies can lend one another support for things like mobile towers, but not allocate any part of the airwaves they own to another party. Now TRAI is reported to be gearing up to release a set of recommendations today which will enable sharing of all spectrum including the portion won by network providers at the old price of Rs 1658 crores.
Under the old licensing process, spectrum was allotted and not auctioned off to telecom companies. This resulted in huge losses to the exchequer and the government was prepared to permit sharing of air waves owned by brands who were allocated these blocks only under the condition that they payed a one-time fee. This one-time charge was calculated to be Rs 30000 crores for CDMA and GSM.
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Not willing to bear the financial cost, operators challenged this decision in court and the matter is now under judicial consideration. TRAI is supposedly going to ask DoT (Department of Telecommunications) to levy a one-time, non-refundable charge of Rs 50000 per service area in which the concerned network provider chooses to go for spectrum sharing. But only telecom companies may be allowed to do so and it could be capped at 50% of air waves being shared.
The Times of India which dug up this story through PTI, notes that the TRAI recommendations on sharing of all spectrum will first be examined by the telecom department and then taken to TC (Telecom Commission) before any action is taken. Incumbent companies such as Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Tata Teleservices and Idea Cellular will benefit from the move.