The Cabinet on Wednesday approved guidelines for the sharing of telecom spectrum. Trading guidelines, also to be cleared on Wednesday, were, however, kept in abeyance.

“Spectrum sharing has been approved, but trading has been kept for the future because of some tax issues raised by the Finance Ministry,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, Communications and IT Minister, told BusinessLine over the phone.

Spectrum sharing refers to an arrangement between two telecom operators having spectrum in the same band pooling their holdings for simultaneous use via a common Radio Access Network.

All spectrum, including that which is traded, will be sharable provided both licensees have the spectrum in the same band, the Cabinet decision said. 

The decision will allow operators to further share their network in places where they are not present. Until now, only infrastructure or towers could be shared.

To use the sharing facility, an operator has to pay the Wireless Planning Commission a one-time administrative fee of ₹50,000.

Post sharing, the spectrum usage charge, which is 3-5 per cent of revenues, shall increase by 0.5 per cent of the aggregate gross revenue.   

The prescribed limits for spectrum shall be applicable to both licensees individually. Further, spectrum holding of any licensee post-sharing shall be taken into account. 

For ‘ease of doing business’, the Cabinet decided that both licenseesshall jointly give an intimation of sharing at least 45 days ahead of the proposed effective date.

Both the licensees shall also give an undertaking that they are in compliance with all terms and conditions of the guidelines for spectrum sharing and licence conditions.

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