Sibal drops retrospective spectrum fee in compromise package
08 Jun 2012
The telecom ministry toady offered to abandon its plans to impose retrospective charges for existing spectrum usage and replace it with a compromise formula to resolve the 2G spectrum pricing issue.
Under the deal, telecom operators will be given the option to either pay for the remaining period of the licence, and then pay a market-based price at the time of renewal, or pay the current market based price now and keep it for 20 years.
Communications and IT minister Kapil Sibal today offered warring telecom operators the compromise formula as a peace deal to resolve the 2G spectrum imbroglio.
The new formula will bring huge savings for incumbent GSM players compared to the earlier plan of charging retrospectively. However, operators will have to withdraw all court cases to be eligible for the new spectrum licences.
The earlier formula would have put a heavy burden on incumbent players who would have to pay for the past 18 years or so since the award of licences.
Mobile phone service providers will also be allowed to share spectrum at no additional cost. There will also be no discrimination on the basis of technology used.
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