Telecom panel seeks more clarity on 2G from TRAI

The Telecom Commission has asked TRAI to re-examine almost all its recommendations on the 2G auction. CNBC-TV18's Malvika Jain reports that some recommendations are contradictory in nature.

There are three key recommendations which the Telecom Commission 
has found contradictions. The first is on refarming. Even as TRAI has recommended that 900 Mhz of spectrum should be immediately 
refarmed, for some reason it has recommended 800 Mhz to be refarmed progressively.

So, the department of telecommunications (DoT has raised a query regarding the recommendation.

Secondly, earlier TRAI had recommended that the licence fee should be a minimum of 10% of the entry fee. But now TRAI has recommended that the licence fee should be based on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) and should be subjected to a minimum of 5% of the bid amount.

The third contradiction that DoT has pointed out, is the possibility of the auction of 900 Mhz spectrum 18 months in advance when it will only be available once the licences come up for renewal in 2014.

The DoT also plans to seek legal opinion on six issues once TRAI's recommendations are received by DoT which is expected by May 14. These include giving 1.25 Mhz to those licencees which already have 4.4 Mhz as, according to DoT, it would mean a grant of excess spectrum and mortgaging spectrum to banks, one of TRAI's key recommendations. The DoT has pointed out that it will be difficult to securitise spectrum beyond a period of 12 months.