Broadband India Forum asks TRAI to do fresh valuation drill for spectrum pricing

New Delhi : Broadband India Forum, an association of the telecom network and broadcasters has questioned the TRAI methodology of calculating reserve price for spectrum, alleging this has resulted in spectrum prices being unreasonably higher than global price lines.

The assocation in a letter to the TRAI chairman R.S. Sharma has said “TRAI Methodology of calculating Reserve Price does not rely much on fresh valuation”. BIF’s contention is that the reserve prices can be referenced back to last auction only if it is not more than one year old. In case spectrum is auctioned after a gap of more than a year of last auctions (in this case the last auction happened in 2016), spectrum must be valued afresh to take into account the current market structure and condition.

T V Ramachandran, president, IBF said in the letter , in the latest spectrum pricing recommendations of TRAI, though fresh valuation has been computed for each circle, it is not applied to all circles. For instance in 1800 MHz, for 19 out of 22 circles, fresh valuation is not used. These circles have been computed using indexation and valuation methods have been simply ignored. (IANS)

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