Final decision on spectrum before airwaves auction

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the government will take a final decision on reallocation of spectrum before the auction of airwaves begins.

“Absolutely before the auction starts,” Sibal said on the sidelines of an Airtel event when asked if the decision on spectrum re-farming will be taken before the auction that are to begin from November 12.

Spectrum re-farming is the term used for additional spectrum that the legacy players have with them and could be reallocated to other players.

The Supreme Court, which had in February cancelled 122 licences in the 2G spectrum allocation case, has directed the government to complete the auction process by January 11, 2013.

The Telecom Commission has decided that existing mobile operators will have to fully vacate airwaves in the 900 MHz band at the time of licence renewal in 2014 — a move that GSM players say would cost them over `66, 000 crore in replacing infrastructure.

Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “The company has to work under the framework of the government and has complete faith in it.”

On the amount of 900 MHz that existing operators should be allowed to retain,  Mittal said, “I want to keep it all,” but added that “the government has to keep a balance.”

The final decision on re-farming has to be taken by the Empowered Group of Ministers on Spectrum headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.  The EGoM is scheduled to meet on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel launched a Network Experience Centre at Manesar to monitor its services across India and South Asia from a single location.

The earthquake proof facility, which is the first of its kind in India, will monitor Airtel’s network performance across services — mobile  fixed line and DSL broadband  Direct-to-Home, m-commerce,  enterprise international cable systems and internet peering points.