In a move that could raise consolidation moves among telecom companies, the telecom department has given its final clearance to long-awaited rules on sharing and trading of airwaves at a meeting of the Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body of the telecom department. Though, the rules still need Cabinet's approval to become operative.
For the operators, trading allows to sell airwaves that they aren't utilising, offering an exit route for struggling ones, while through sharing, operators can pool in their spectrum resources to create a larger bank and each partner can use the airwaves from the pool as per its needs.
On the same time, the move will be helpful for the consumers in lower call drops and will result in better quality of voice services and faster data speeds, as sharing could reduce traffic congestion on the network. Also, as sharing of spectrum could allow operators to cut down on capital expenditure, they could pass on the benefit to subscribers through lower tariffs.
The Trai had earlier recommended telcos will be able to share spectrum acquired through trading. It had also suggested allowing two telcos to share any category - 2G, 3G or 4G - of similar spectrum in a circle, including airwaves allotted through government-set prices before the current auction process started. However, it didn't recommend sharing by internet service providers. It had though stated that in case of trading there would be a 1% transfer fee on the transactional amount or prescribed market price, whichever is higher, and payable by the seller to the government.