It seems that there could soon be some sort of resolution to the long running issues surrounding auctioning of 2G telephony spectrum. While the Indian government had to bear a lot due to the way the spectrum allocation was done which even pushed the ministers to court, it is very much needed that corrective measures are being taken.

In order to resolve the long running crisis, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is mulling the option to bring the existing operators and new entrants into a common platform. The technicalities are expected to be revealed soon by Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.

The existing players would be instructed to pay extra for the extended spectrum. All those who have purchased spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz would have to shell out extra under the new rule. It was only after the Supreme Court canceled licenses issued at the price set in 2001, that the decision was taken. Even a time of 2 months was given to the TRAI to bring back the fallen system.

If government sources are to be believed, in case the existing players are told to pay for the extra spectrum as per the current market price, there are fair chances that the telecom regulator may club them with the new operators.

In addition, there are expectations that the minister may reveal more about a nationwide service licence which would be priced at Rs 20 crore. However, for spectrum, one would have to shell out more. Even there are expectations of changes in the revenue sharing proportion.

“Existing infrastructure providers would be required to take new unified licenses as soon as they come into being and the conditions in the unified licence will apply to tower companies too”, said an official of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

While the news is making rounds, it would be interesting to see how the entire telecom regime is being managed.