Resolving the spectrum tangle

The Department of Telecom is busy sortingoutthe spectrummuddle. To begin with, it has rejected the claim by CDMA operators that GSM players were hoarding spectrum.

Responding to a query by the Central Vigilance Commission, DoT maintained that allocation had been done strictly on the basis of prescribed critieria. Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura told BT: “We have followed a certain policy while allocating spectrum.” On the basic criteria of spectrum allocation itself, DoT has, for the first time now, indicated that it is willing to consider auctioning spectrum. This though, it says, can only be for allocation of additional spectrum—for start-up spectrum, it wants to retain the present procedure where it comes bundled with the licence of telecom companies.

— Rishi Joshi