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TRAI Recommendations
Commotion and confusion prevails over the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendations on spectrum pricing and refarming. The industry is split over the suggestions relating to valuation and allocation of electro-magnetic spectrum which follow the 2 February order of the Supreme Court cancelling the 122 licences that were issued in an illegal manner from 2007-08 onwards. The government is under pressure from lobbies to dilute TRAI's recommendations and the regulatory body too has complicated matters. In the end, will the consumer end up as the biggest loser?
Portions of this article appeared in Firstpost.com (9 and 11 May 2012) and in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle (9 May 2012).
A large section of the telecommunications industry is shouting itself hoarse over the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) relating to pricing, auction and “refarming” or reallocation of spectrum used mainly for mobile telephony.
Spectrum is thin air but akin to a road that enables wireless cellular communication services to take place. While spectrum as a natural resource is theoretically inexhaustible (unlike mineral resources like coal) it is nevertheless finite and is currently scarce on account of the burgeoning of mobile communications networks in India.
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