TRAI’s proposals on spectrum-sharing and trading guidelines submitted to Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body of Department of Telecom are returned to TRAI, as the Commission seeks more clarification on certain aspects mentioned in it.

The meeting held yesterday had the presence of Minister of Telecom, Ravi Shankar Prasad and other senior officials of DoT. TRAI now needs to send the requested information back to the Commission within next 15 days, following which a new round of discussion will begin soon.

Mr. Prasad had instructed TRAI to form the guidelines in purview of future developments and market expansion of telecom sector. The spectrum-sharing guidelines will provide the telecom service providers the freedom to share their unused airwaves with other operators within the same telecom sector. The meeting for discussion was initially decided on April 29^th, however, was advanced due to unknown reasons.

Back in 2014, TRAI recommended sharing of all categories of airwaves held by operators, inclusive of the ones allocated without auction. The regulator also suggested trading of spectrum, which is now traded only on auction basis. If TRAI has sustained these aspects in the newly submitted proposal is yet to be known.