New Delhi, Sept. 6: Telecom minister Kapil Sibal today indicated that the new regulatory regime would allow spectrum sharing among mobile service providers.
“I think spectrum can be shared and I don’t think there is a need for over-regulation for this,” he said.
Spectrum sharing will enable operators with relatively less number of subscribers and underutilised spectrum to share the excess resource with other players without losing ownership rights. Voice and data services are offered on second generation and third generation spectrum.
According to analysts, recent technical developments such as mesh networks, location technologies and spectrum sensors allow various forms of spectrum sharing.
The department of telecom was planning to set certain qualification criteria on who gets to share spectrum. However, with Sibal voting for a deregularised regime, the rules may be simple.
The telecom minister said regulation was required to prevent the abuse of existing resources but over-regulation would hurt growth. “If it is an over-regulated environment, you can not get growth. If it is under-regulated, then you get abused. So deciding on an optimal level is a challenge.”
Sibal is not in favour of spectrum trading, in which a block of radiowaves is bought or sold in the market like any other commodity.
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