The Union Cabinet has approved the guidelines for the sharing of spectrum, which were finalised by the Telecom Commission in June 2015. The Cabinet has permitted sharing of spectrum, but not leasing of spectrum.

As per the guidelines, all spectrum will be eligibile for sharing provided that both the licensees have the airwaves in the same frequency band. Further, an operator will have to pay a one-time administrative fee of Rs 50,000 to the Wireless Planning Commission of DoT for sharing airwaves with another operator. In addition, the companies sharing spectrum will also have to pay an additional spectrum usage charge (SUC) of 0.5 per cent of the aggregate gross revenue. The prescribed limits for spectrum shall be applicable to both the licensees individually. The aggregate spectrum holding of the operator post-sharing shall be taken into account for calculating the SUC. The operators will also have to jointly inform, at least 45 days before the proposed effective date of sharing spectrum.

At present, the operators are allowed to share only infrastructure such as mobile towers. The decision will allow the operators to share their unutilised spectrum with other service providers in the same circle in the same band. The Cabinet will consider the spectrum trading norms separately.