Spectrum allocation should be fair, transparent: PM

New Delhi: The multi-crore telecom spectrum battle between India's corporate giants has taken a new turn with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervening in the ongoing allocation war.

On Wednesday, Singh said that spectrum should be allocated in a manner that there is no entry barrier for new comers. At the same time no hindrance should be created for existing CDMA players.

Prime Minister also clearly batted for auctioning for spectrum allocation saying it’s a medium of revenue generation for the government.

“The policy regime for making spectrum available should be transparent and equitable. It should not create entry barriers to the new comers or barriers to the continued growth of this important sector,” Singh said.

However, he expressed concern saying that the spectrum availability can be constrain for the growth of telecom sector in future.

Prime Minister said that the government has taken steps for vacating airwaves by the existing users.

He asked all the spectrum users to use this scare resource optimally "all technological options must be explored to maximise its utilisation."

The Department of Telecom (DoT) and the regulator have successfully enabled the rapid growth of this sector Singh said adding, "I believe that working closely with the independent statutory regulator, we can balance multiple objectives in a fair manner."

So far the DoT has not allowed spectrum to be auctioned, a decision, which has made GSM players in particular very upset.

The allocation of spectrum has pitted India's largest corporates against each other. On one side is the Anil Ambani owned Reliance Communication and on the other side are Sunil Mittal controlled Airtel and Ratan Tats'a Tata Indicom.

Demonstrating the divide among GSM mobile players for acquiring additional spectrum, AV Birla group firm Idea Cellular Ltd on Tuesday offered to pay Rs 1,650 crore for extra airwaves -- a sum that is far less than that proposed by bigger GSM operator Bharti Airtel.

In an offer made to the government, Idea Cellular sought additional 4.4 Mhz start-up spectrum that is equal to the "de-facto second licence" to rival CDMA operators. Although Idea did not name any competitor, Anil Ambani-led CDMA player Reliance Communications has paid Rs 1,651 crore and has been allowed to start GSM services in 14 telecom circles.

(With PTI inputs)