Guidelines on spectrum by Oct-end

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal in February had announced a liberal merger and acquisition regime in the sector allowing up to 35 per cent market share for the merged entity.

The government had decided to allow telecom operators share spectrum for services but total quantum of spectrum,as a result of the spectrum sharing,should not exceed the limit prescribed in case of mergers of licences.

In those guidelines,the government had barred leasing of spectrum,sharing among 3G spectrum holder and trading of spectrum. Decision on matters related to pricing of spectrum post-sharing,were to be taken separately.

The government had also put a cap of 25 per cent on GSM spectrum that resultant company can have in a service area and limit of 10 Mhz in case of CDMA services.