The Indian government has allowed telecom operators to trade spectrum. The move is expected to ease the financial stress on some operators, and allow others to add bandwidth and improve the quality of services, The Economic Times reports. Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told ET that the cabinet's decision was in line with the government's steps to liberalise the use and sale of natural resources towards growth and development. "We have facilitated the sale and purchase of airwaves by removing the obligation for buyers and sellers to take prior permission. This provides an exit route for those aren't able to use it and a way for operators to buy airwaves any time they require it", Prasad said.
"While this is helpful to the industry and something which it has sought, issues like spectrum caps, double taxation and administrative spectrum stepup in pricing will not make it a game-changer," said Rajan Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
Prasad said the government had established a panel to reconsider spectrum-holding limits set for service areas and specific bands.
Under the new spectrum trading regulations, two operators may trade spectrum in all bands, but only two years after the airwaves have been assigned, won in an auction or received through a deal. An operator that plans to sell spectrum that was allocated by the government needs to convert it into tradable airwaves by paying a market price to the government. A non-refundable transfer fee of 1 percent of the deal value or of the prescribed market price, whichever is higher, will be imposed on all trading agreements.
