NEW DELHI: A senior official has said that the only mechanism to provide spectrum for telecom services is through auction and in some limited cases such as satellite communications, sovereign functions and military, through administrative allocation. It added that it would be provided.
“Spectrum for mobile services will continue to be provided through an auction process. In fact, there is currently one auction underway for 4G and 5G spectrum,” the person said, requesting anonymity.
The official said the government approached the Supreme Court not to seek a change to the 2012 Supreme Court ruling, but as a precautionary measure before implementing the 2023 Telecommunications Act in light of multiple lawsuits. .
“The issue before the Supreme Court is essentially a miscellaneous application seeking clarification on the above points in view of multiple cases. This Bill requires that the Telecommunications Bill go through due process before it can be submitted to Parliament. The application has been filed in the Supreme Court. The application does not seek to change the Supreme Court's judgment,” the official added.
On Monday, the government sought an urgent hearing from a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud after filing an application in the court in December 2023. The application asks the court for clarification on whether the government can administratively allocate spectrum through a legal process. In the case of sovereign functional requirements, in the public interest, or if technical or economic factors make it impossible to prioritize the auction.
“As enacted in the new Telecommunications Act, very large Only limited and narrowly defined cases will be applicable, PSUs like Air Force and Navy and BSNL will be given on administrative basis.Of the total allocation, these are negligible,” the official added. Ta.
Satellite spectrum allocation
The plea for clarification comes years after the Supreme Court in 2012 said competitive bidding would be used to distribute people's natural resources. References by the central government to the president were also made pursuant to this judgment.
A new telecommunications law enacted last year paved the way for the allocation of satellite broadband spectrum without the need for an auction. Satellite spectrum is particularly important as many major companies have plans to launch satellite services in India.
Key among them are Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb, Reliance's Jio Satellite Communications, Elon Musk's Starlink, and Amazon's Project Kuiper. Besides Bharti Group, Starlink and Amazon, some companies like L&T, Tata Group and Nasscom support the non-auction route, while others like Reliance and Vodafone Idea are against direct allotment.
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