Telecom companies may hold average of 40 MHz spectrum per circle

NEW DELHI: The government expects each telecom operator to hold an average 40 MHz of spectrum per circle by next year, on a par with some international markets, telecom secretary JS Deepak said. This should help increase the low broadband penetration levels in India, a subject which led to a public disagreement between the telecom ministry’s top official and the sector regulator.

Currently, Indian telecom service providers hold close to 25 MHz of spectrum per circle, which analysts say is lesser than needed, especially when it comes to offering a large number of services, such as those under the government’s digital drive.

“The sector is moving towards market consolidation. Next year, airwaves scarcity will be history. We are looking to allocate 40 MHz of spectrum per operator, on a par with the North American market,” Deepak said at an industry event organised by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday.

The Department of Telecom expects that consolidation and the spectrum bought by operators in the recent auctions together could increase airwave holdings of players such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone India and Reliance Jio Infocomm.Industry group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director-general Rajan S Mathews, however, said each operator would require at least 60 Mhz in every circle, “in the absence of landline or fibre cable infrastructure”. The group, which represents carriers such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Jio, believes that India lacked alternative resources to offload traffic to a wireline network, and looking at the type of demand and speed requirements of at least 2Mbps, higher quantum of airwaves would be required.