Govt to form panel for reviewing long term spectrum policy

New Delhi, Dec 26 (UNI) Department of Telecommunications (DoT) today said it will form a new panel for formulation of a long term spectrum allocation policy.

The panel will consist of telecom regulator TRAI, Telecom Engineering Committee (TEC) and industry representatives.

The panel is expected to submit the report within six months.

The move comes in the wake of government acceptance of subscriber linked formula for spectrum allocation which is based on telecom regulator TRAl's recommendation, a move that may hit telecom service providers as they would suffer mounting capital expenditure.

TRAI recommendations are based on subscriber linked formula in which operators have to increase their customer base 2-8 times and lower the spectrum allocation in multiple of 1MHz.

The government nod would mean that the telecom operators have to increase their subscriber base 2-8 times for additional allocation of spectrum.

Stating TRAI's recommendations were not based on scientific calculation and were without consultation of the stakeholders, GSM operators COAI had challenged it in the telecom tribunal.

UNI