Trai releases pre-consultation paper on 2G spectrum allocation

NEW DELHI: Barely a day after the Supreme Court directed cancellation of 122 telecom licences held by eight parties through 2G and allowed them to return via an e-auction, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) released a Pre-consultation Paper on “Allocation of Spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction” on Friday.

Trai has sought comments from stakeholders to the paper for comments of the stakeholders by 15 February. The regulator has said that ‘keeping in view the time bound nature of exercise, no extension of time will be given.‘

The court had directed Trai to make fresh recommendations for grant of licence and allocation of spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction, as was done for allocation of spectrum in 3G band.

On the issue of grant of licences, Trai in its recommendation on “Spectrum Management and Licensing Framework” on 11 May 2010 recommended that all future licences should be ‘Unified Licences‘ and that spectrum be delinked from the licence.

“Draft Guidelines for Unified Licensing Regime” were also placed on Trai website www.trai.gov.in on 16 January 2012 for comments of the stakeholders.

On the issue of “Allocation of spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction”, stakeholders have been requested to send their comments/suggestions on the issues involved.