Remarketing resources

It has advised against the use of the current first-come,first-served system for allocation of space spectrum after charges of financial irregularities surfaced over the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Instead,the panel has called for an immediate review of the system and its replacement by a more rational allocation mechanism that restricts the number of licensed users through a competitive selection process. The Indian telecom market has matured and has an average teledensity of around 66% (as of September,2010). Thus,for telecom spectrum,there is now a strong case for auctioning of all service spectrum, the panel has said.

Further,it has said,the existing allocations of spectrum should be charged for the remaining licence period at the rate discovered in the market through trades,sharing and merger of spectrum. It has also called for delinking of spectrum from telecom licences for all existing and new users: in line with TRAI recommendations,the government should instead hand out a single unified telecom licence.

The committee has called for spectrum trading,merger and sharing,vacation and refarming after notifying a defence band and defence interest zone. For this,it has said,a new dedicated exchange should be set up and it would be responsible for regulating spectrum trade. Significantly,in addition to existing telecom regulator TRAI,the panel has called for separate spectrum regulator that should be set up with a view to conduct periodic spectrum audits,give recommendations on spectrum vacation and re-farming and carry out other spectrum management responsibilities.