Telecom Dept Rejects Trai Views on Infra Sharing

New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) The Department of Telecom has rejected Trai views on passive infrastructure sharing by service providers supported by public fund, according to a document released by the telecom regulator.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had last year recommended that the Department of Telecom (DoT) should explore the feasibility of issuing instructions to such USPs that the USP (universal service provider) shall not refuse to share the passive infrastructure laid under the project with at least two other telecom service providers on a transparent and nondiscriminatory basis.

USPs are the entities that build and provide telecom services in rural and remote areas with support from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) which has been renamed as Digital Bharat Nidhi.

The Department of Telecom in its communication sent to Trai for seeking clarifications on some of the recommendations over "telecommunication infrastructure sharing, spectrum sharing and spectrum leasing" said that this suggestion of the regulator "May not be accepted" without elaborating on any reason.

The regulator said that in absence of any supporting justification or rationale provided by DoT for not accepting the recommendation, "the Authority is constrained to reiterate the Recommendation".

Trai, however, has relented on DoT suggestion over inter-band spectrum sharing that "any frequency spectrum should be permitted to be shared under inter-band access spectrum sharing only after a lock-in period of two years from the date of its acquisition".

DoT has expressed concern over the lock-in period of two years proposed by Trai.

Trai realised that if its recommendation is implemented then a telecom operator will not share its existing spectrum if it adds even a small amount of spectrum in the same band for a period of two years.

The regulator accordingly modified the recommendation.

"The access spectrum in any frequency band should be permitted to be shared under inter-band access spectrum sharing if at least 80 per cent of the spectrum holding in the frequency band meets the condition of the lock-in period of two years from the date of its acquisition," Trai said.