India's Telecom Commission has decided to provide more spectrum in the upcoming auction and is planning to ease the roll-out obligations proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), reports Times News Network (TNN). The inter-ministerial panel, however, stayed clear of any decision on the reserve price for the spectrum proposed by Trai. Telecommunication secretary R Chandrasekhar said that a decision on the price will be taken in a meeting on 26 May, after which the recommendations will be passed on to the empowered group of ministers, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The panel suggested that at least 10 MHz of spectrum in each circle should be auctioned against Trai's proposal for 5 MHz. In addition, operators who are already in business can bid for a maximum of two blocks of 1.25 MHz each, giving the incumbents total spectrum of 5 MHz. Those opting for CDMA technology will have to bid for 2.5 MHz of spectrum. The Telecom Commission also said the existing rural roll-out obligations should be maintained, instead of getting multiple operators to reach every village. The Commission agreed that spectrum should be liberalised in future to allow operators to use spectrum for any kind of service.
