Telecom policy to allow pooling of spectrum

A draft of the national telecom policy for 2011 has come up with the proposal to allow trading, pooling and sharing of spectrum, which is likely to benefit the new as well as established telecom operators. 

Experts say most new operators such as S-Tel, Datacom, Loop Telecom and Etisalat-DB will be keen on trading or sharing spectrum as their spectrum utilisation is minimal because of a low subscriber base. They will have demand from established operators who have not got the go-ahead on their applications for more spectrum. 

The draft has also suggested restructuring of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a separation between its policy making functions and licensing powers. Apart from this, the draft policy has also taken up a set of key targets for the telecom sector, which includes ensuring availability of 300 Mhz of spectrum for future IMT (like 3G and 4G) services by the year 2016 and 500 Mhz by 2020, to get the rural telecom density to hit 100 per cent by 2020 (from 35 per cent currently), making frequencies available for new technologies in the telecom space etc. 

In addition to the above suggestions, there is also a suggestion for a new comprehensive "Spectrum Act" to be put in place, to bring out a statutory mechanism for spectrum management and licensing.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/1057-telecom-policy-to-allow-pooling-of-spectrum.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/1057-telecom-policy-to-allow-pooling-of-spectrum.html