Spectrum sharing and trading guidelines will be delayed since the Department of Telecom (DoT) is planning to send back TRAI recommendations for further consideration.

A report in Times of India today said the government will not announce the guidelines for spectrum sharing and trading before the auctions in February. Telecom Commission will discuss the issue at an inter-ministerial meeting. After the discussion, draft guidelines will be shared with TRAI for further re-consideration.

Indian telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, which need spectrum to manage their stretched and congested networks, are looking at spectrum sharing and trading with some of the smaller players, who have not been growing so fast and need funds to manage telecom business.

Telecom operators have been waiting for final guidelines from the telecom ministry – headed by Telecom and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Any further delay will bring less clarity on their spectrum roadmap and related investment plans.

Baburajan K
[email protected]