India Telecom Regulator Moots Raising Spectrum Usage Charge

NEW DELHI -(Dow Jones)- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Wednesday recommended raising usage charges for radio bandwidth beyond eight megahertz by one percentage point of their annual revenue.

According to TRAI's recommendations, telecommunications companies, which use radio bandwidth, or spectrum, for offering wireless communication services, should pay one percentage point more of their annual revenue than what they currently pay, if their usage crosses eight MHz.

The TRAI has also suggested that the companies pay a one-time charge of INR160 million for acquiring each MHz of additional spectrum beyond 10 MHz in select service areas and in the metro cities of Delhi and Mumbai.

India is divided into 23 telecommunications service areas, or circles.

The regulator has also recommended that there be no limit on the number of service providers in any service area.

-By Shaleen Agrawal, Dow Jones Newswires; 91-11-23074020; shaleen.agrawal@dowjones.com

-Edited by Roger Ng

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 29th August 2007