India’s new wireless spectrum policy

After TRAI’s objections to DoT’s stand on spectrum, DoT has quickly changed its stance and quietly adopted TRAI’s recommendations. The following graphs show how GSM mobile operators can claim incremental spectrum, which is linked to subscriber addition in various Telecom circles.

Metro Circles:

Indian metro-mobile-spectrum-allocation-graph

Circle A:

Indian circle-a-wireless-spectrum-allocation

Circle B:

Indian circle-b-wireless-spectrum-graph

CDMA operators are eligible for maximum spectrum of 7.5 MHz. Kindly refer to DoT order No J-14025/200(17)/2004-NT.

New entrants like Reliance GSM are desperate to offer services as soon as possible and are even willing to accept lesser than 4 Mhz of startup spectrum. In a separate development, the CVC has questioned DoT on why 2G spectrum in addition to 6.2 MHz wasn’t auctioned ?