Defence forces have told the Telecom Department to ensure that the regulator takes on board its concerns regarding spectrum availability.
In a letter to the Department of Telecom, the defence forces have said that if the entire unsold spectrum goes for auction in the current state, it will infringe into Defence band.
The consultation paper issued by the TRAI on Tuesday does not address this issue. TRAI has assumed that spectrum available post cancelling 122 licences will be put up for auction. It has also not addressed the issue of lack of continuous spectrum.
While the Defence forces have told the DoT that only 55 MHz of spectrum may be put up for auction, the TRAI paper has considered much higher quantum in some of the circles.
Meanwhile, Vodafone said the Government should auction spectrum in smaller chunks.
In the previous rounds of auction, the DoT had allocated spectrum in chunks of 1.25 MHz.
Vodafone wants this to be reduced to 200 KHz to enable operators the flexibility to deploy any technology without wastage. For example, GSM operators need 4.4 MHz of spectrum but they would have to buy at least 5 MHz if the spectrum is auctioned in multiples of 1.25 MHz.