The department of telecom (DoT) has rejected the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai's) suggestion to
introduce spectrum trading. DoT secretary JS Sarma told FE that no such proposal was under the department's consideration.
In its consultation paper issued on Monday, Trai had said that
allowing spectrum trading would enable a new entrant to use the spectrum of an existing operator, provided it is able to compensate the operator.
At present, if an operator finds a telecom service to be unprofitable and wishes to provide broadcasting services which he finds more profitable, the existing spectrum allocation rules stand in his way. Trading will ensure that spectrum, as a scarce resource, is always put to the best use, Trai said.
Besides DoT, telecom operators are also opposed to spectrum trading since they fear entry of foreign operators through piecemeal buying of spectrum from existing operators.
The department has also rejected the idea of mandatory roaming agreement. "We cannot frame a guideline on mandatory roaming as BSNL does not allow it in any of its networks," Mr Sarma said.
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