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KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Telecom minister A Raja has dismissed Trai’s demand that it be entrusted with the task of managing spectrum — the radio frequencies on which mobile services operate.

Instead, he has asked the telecom department to put in place an ‘institutionalised mechanism for spectrum audit, pricing and accounting’ to ensure that the communications ministry remains the sole custodian of this scarce resource.

Trai had argued that transferring this mandate to it would usher in more transparency, allow it to carry out regular audits and ensure that this scarce national resource is used optimally.

Following Mr Raja’s directive, the telecom department is set to put in place sophisticated equipment and trained personnel to check if operators are using their allocated airwaves efficiently.

Also, the department will bolster its enforcement wing to make it more efficient to ensure that spectrum usage violations are effectively dealt with.

Spectrum is at the heart of nearly all controversies in India’s telecoms circuit. There have been umpteen spectrum-related standoffs over the past three years among companies, the telecom regulator and the communication ministry. Operators are now involved in a bitter tussle among themselves over what they call ‘excess radio frequencies held by some players’.

They are also involved in a bitter war of words on the pricing of these alleged ‘excess frequencies’, with leading GSM telcos — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and BSNL — all challenging Trai’s latest proposal to link the pricing of ‘excess 2G spectrum’ to that in the 3G auctions’.

Mr Raja’s latest proposal is also being interpreted by certain sections of government as feelers to the defence ministry to either respond to the telecom department’s long-standing demand of releasing extra 2G airwaves along with 10 MHz of EVDO spectrum in the 1,900 MHz band or pay for the huge quantum of spectrum it currently holds.

It is well known that DoT faces a severe 2G-spectrum crunch and hasn’t been able to allot 2G airwaves to companies like Uninor and Tata DoCoMo in key circles, including Delhi.

The telecom department’s demand for airwaves in he 1900 MHz band is equally crucial as this constitutes 3G spectrum for CDMA operators. Recently, the defence ministry had refused to vacate spectrum in the 1900 MHz band, thereby ending the possibility of the government carrying out auctions of these airwaves.

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This post was submitted by Chinmaya Nayak.

Thanks to economictimes.indiatimes.com