Telecom Lead India: TRAI has come out with a
comprehensive Spectrum policy to ensure the Indian telecom industry will
continue to be viable for investors.
HIGHLIGHTS OF TRAI RECOMMENDATIONS
TRAI recommended excess spectrum of 2×2.4 MHz should be
immediately taken back from MTNL.
The spectrum which is available in at least 75 percent of
total number of districts of the LSA including the State capital (s) should be
considered for allocation through auction.
All spectrum should be assigned through the auction
process in future shall be liberalized. In other words, spectrum in any band
can be used for deploying any services in any technology.
Refarming of spectrum in the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands
should be carried out progressively at an early date but not later than the due
date of renewal of the licences. The spectrum available with the service
providers in the 900 MHz band should be replaced by spectrum in the 1800 MHz
band, which should be charged at the price prevalent at the time of refarming.
The Government must actively explore the possibility of
refarming of the spectrum in the 900 MHz band immediately, by invoking the
authority to change the licence conditions.
Since the application for renewal of licenses must be
made at least 30 months in advance of the expiry of licenses, the Authority
recommends that the 900MHz spectrum be auctioned at least 18 months in advance
so as to enable the winning bidders to be ready with the deployment plans.
Accordingly, the Authority recommends that the auction of 900MHz spectrum may
be carried out in the first half of the year 2013.
In Circles where the amount of spectrum in 1800 MHz band
is insufficient for carrying out fully the refarming exercise, immediate steps
must be taken to get the Government agencies to vacate the 1800 MHz spectrum so
that the entire 900 MHz spectrum can be refarmed.
8. For license holders of 800 MHz band spectrum should be
assigned in 1900 MHz band.
DOT should immediately arrange to allocate spectrum in
the 1900 MHz band for refarming the spectrum in the 800 MHz band.
DoT should immediately carry out the interference study.
The spectrum in the 800 MHz band should progressively be refarmed at the time
of renewal of licences of such operators.
The auction of spectrum in 700 MHz band may be carried
out at a later date, preferably in 2014 as and when the ecosystem for LTE in
the 700 MHz is reasonably developed, so as to be able to realize the full
market value of the spectrum.
12. The Authority recommends the following structure for
the auction of spectrum in future:
The auction of spectrum shall be conducted using
Simultaneous Multiple Round Auction (SMRA) format.
As regards the auction of spectrum in 1800 MHz and 800
MHz bands to be conducted immediately following these recommendations, it
should be held in single stage.
Every auction shall be open to all those holding CMTS
licence/ UAS licence / Unified licence or eligible for grant of Unified
Licence. Auction shall not be open to those that hold spectrum above the
prescribed cap.
If a new entity is successful, then the Authority
recommends that such an entity will have to take either the National level or
the State level Unified Licence, as the case may be.
In all auctions at least 5 MHz of spectrum shall be
offered, except where the spectrum available is less than 5 MHz.
Spectrum shall be offered in blocks of 1.25 MHz each.
For the auction that is to immediately follow these
recommendations, the amount of spectrum to be offered will follow the scheme
laid out in Para 3.39 above.
The final bid price of one auction in a given band shall
be the base price for the next auction whenever it takes place, with the rider
that it will suitably be adjusted in the event of gap beyond one year.
The limit for acquisition of spectrum shall be 50 percent
of the spectrum assigned in each band in the respective service area and 25
percentof the total spectrum assigned in all bands put together in each service
area. (Para 3.39)
After conducting the auction for spectrum in the 1800 MHz
band, and reserving the spectrum required for refarming, out of the remaining
spectrum if any, one block of 2×1.25 MHz of spectrum may be allocated to those 147
licensees having 4.4 MHz of spectrum in the service area,
at the auction discovered price for that service area. It should be clearly
understood that while this tranche of 2x 1.25 MHz will be paid for at the
auction discovered price, it will be treated on par with the unliberalised
spectrum of 4.4. MHz that is held by the licensee, unless the licensee opts to
liberalise the 4.4.MHz spectrum also by paying the auction discovered price.
Service providers may be allowed to convert their
existing 1800 MHz spectrum into liberalized spectrum on payment of the auction
determined amount in which case they will be granted spectrum rights for a
period of 20 years. They will be allowed to adjust the price paid by them for
the existing spectrum on pro-rata basis for the balance period of the existing
license.
To create a uniformly liberalized environment with a
level playing field, the Government may consider incorporating a suitable
incentive package for service providers in NTP 2012 to encourage all of them to
migrate immediately to the new regime envisaged above.
Auction of 800 and 1800 MHz spectrum should be held
through two separate auction processes and in quick sequence.
