After a controversial few quarters, owing to the 2G spectrum scam, the Niira Radia tapes, and the resignation of Telecom Minister A. Raja, the Indian Government has said that it intends to let forces determine the cost of the spectrum, and will consider the adoption of an auction based process for allocation and pricing of spectrum beyond the assigned 6.2 Mhz. In a statement, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has said that the Indian Government will seek a plan of action from the Telecom regulator TRAI. Here's what you need to know from the statement, and its aftermath: - The Government wants to unbundle spectrum from the Telecom license, and auction spectrum. Service providers will get a Unified Service Access licence, allowing them to provide any of telecom services, but they'll have to obtain spectrum for that particular service through a market driven auction process. Earlier, during the controversial 2008 allocation, licensees were given spectrum along with the license, as start-up and contracted spectrum. 6.2Mhz of spectrum was alloted to each service provider, but quite a few of them so far only have got the basic start-up spectrum of 4.4 Mhz and are awaiting the rest of the 1.8Mhz as contracted spectrum. For new licences there will be no start-up or contracted spectrum bundled with the licence. - Allocation of remaining spectrum only after rollout obligations met: New operators who had been alloted licences in 2008 have been fined for delays in network rollout and been sent show-cause notices asking why their licences…
