Telecom Minister reviews spectrum sharing norms with DoT officials

New Delhi, Apr 20: Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today reviewed the progress on spectrum sharing and trading guidelines with senior DoT officials.

Prasad instructed officials to examine recommendations of regulator Trai keeping in view the present and future market potential of the telecom sector, sources said.

"The minister met senior officials to discuss spectrum sharing and trading guidelines. He conveyed that while framing the guidelines, the viability of the telecom sector should be kept in mind," a source said.

It was, however, not confirmed if the Telecom Commission will be discussing the guidelines in its meeting scheduled to take place on April 29.

The Minister had earlier announced that the guidelines would be brought out shortly. Spectrum sharing will allow telecom companies to share their unutilised airwaves with other service providers in the same telecom circle.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) last year had recommended sharing of all categories of telecom airwaves held by operators including spectrum allocated at old price of Rs 1,658 crore or assigned without auction.

The regulator had also recommended allowing trading of spectrum. At present, only government is allowed to allocate spectrum to telecom firms through auctions.

Once trading is allowed, it is will lead to efficient use of radio waves by enabling telecom operators, who have a lower subscriber base or unutilised spectrum, to trade in it.

PTI