The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reiterated most of its recommendations on spectrum sharing and trading guidelines. This comes after the Telecom Commission had asked the TRAI to review its recommendations on spectrum sharing and trading guidelines, as it had sought clarification on certain issues. TRAI in its response has stood by its recommendations of allowing operators to share all spectrum, including 3G frequency airwaves, while clarifying that spectrum acquired through trading can also be shared.

According to TRAI, the basic objective of spectrum sharing is to provide an opportunity to telecom operators to pool their spectrum holdings and thereby improve spectral efficiency. Thus, there is no plausible reason to exclude spectrum in 2100 MHz band from the list of the spectrum bands that can be shared.

TRAI also stood by its proposal of not allowing Internet service provider (ISPs) to share spectrum saying that sharing of spectrum is a new concept. It has also explained the recommendation of charging a processing fee of Rs 50,000 from each telecom operator involved in spectrum sharing. According to the regulator, the processing fee is being imposed to cover the administrative charges.