Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) have all opposed the idea of allocating spectrum administratively to the enterprises for setting up captive private networks. However, the decision has already been made and the cabinet's approval to do so was given in June 2022. Now, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) wants to know how it can allocate spectrum to the enterprises. Thus, the telecom department has reached out to the law ministry to understand how it can do so.
DoT Doesn't Want to Go Against the Order of Supreme Court
DoT doesn't want to go against the order of the supreme court which said that the spectrum should be allocated via the auction route which helps with maintaining transparency. According to am ET Telecom report, DoT wants to understand how it can allocate spectrum directly to enterprises for private networks.
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While the cabinet had approved the direct spectrum allocation to enterprises, it hadn't given a methodology on how the telecom department should do it. So the department is taking a very careful approach here and trying to understand what would be the right way to go about it.
As per the report, the department doesn't want to give the spectrum to the enterprises in a way that ends up benefiting their business in an uneven manner leading to a controversy when the telcos are already against it.
The telecom operators had argued that if the spectrum was given directly to the enterprises, it would hurt their business. However, their argument was not enough and the telecom department is now looking into ways how it can allocate spectrum to the enterprises for captive private networks.
The government will end up benefiting the most here as now revenues for spectrum would come from not just the telecom operators, but also the enterprises.
