The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended (pdf) an increase in the reserve price for a pan-India license in the 800MHz band to Rs 2,685 crore per MHz, up 48% from Rs 1,820 crore per MHz reserve price fixed for the March 2013 auctions. The organization says these recommendations were formulated after analyzing comments and counter comments received from various stakeholders for its consultation paper released in December 2013 and an open house discussion conducted with all stakeholders last month in New Delhi. TRAI Recommends Taking Back CDMA Spectrum From BSNL & MTNL But Both Telcos Oppose It TRAI has recommended that Department of Telecommunication (DoT) should take back around 50% of BSNL's spectrum in the 800MHz band and the telco should be allowed to retain only a single block of spectrum in 800MHz band in all service areas except for Assam, North-East and Jammu and Kashmir where it is the only operator offering CDMA services. It has also recommended that DoT should take back the entire CDMA spectrum of MTNL in the country. This is because TRAI believes the spectrum assigned to both the telcos has been underutilized. It points out the combined CDMA subscriber base of both the PSUs is only 2% of the total CDMA subscribers and the subscriber base of both the PSUs are continuously declining right now. Both the telcos BSNL & MTNL however has opposed this proposal. A BSNL director has told The Economic Times that it has already invested Rs 600 crore in a countrywide CDMA network and if it is asked to return the spectrum, not only…
