TRAI responds to DoT on spectrum sharing recommendations

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued its response to the back-reference received from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) regarding TRAI’s recommendations on 'Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing'. The Authority had issued the recommendations on April 24, 2024.

Earlier, DoT, through a reference dated December 7, 2021 under Section 11 (1) (a) of the TRAl Act, 1997, requested TRAI to provide recommendations on allowing sharing of core network elements such as MSC, HLR, IN etc., among telecom operators. Subsequently, DoT, through a reference dated February 10, 2022, mentioning its earlier reference informed that “to promote optimum resource utilisation among the licensees, it is proposed to allow sharing of all kinds of telecom infrastructure and network elements among all categories of service providers licensed under the Section 4 of Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for provision of authorised telecom services”, and requested TRAI to provide recommendations on the subject.

Considering the request of stakeholders to permit inter-band spectrum sharing and leasing of spectrum in the country, the Authority decided to take up the issues related to spectrum sharing and spectrum leasing along with the issues related to infrastructure sharing in the stakeholders’ consultation.

After a comprehensive consultation with stakeholders, TRAI sent its recommendations to DoT on April 24, 2024.

Subsequently, DoT, through a back-reference dated February 13, 2025, informed TRAI that as per Section 11(1) of the TRAI Act 1997 (as amended), such recommendations on 'Telecommunication Infrastructure Sharing, Spectrum Sharing, and Spectrum Leasing', where the Government has reached a prima-facie conclusion that these recommendations may not be accepted or may need modification are being referred back to TRAI for its reconsideration.

In its response on March 25, 2025, TRAI said, "In absence of any supporting justification or rationale provided by DoT for not accepting the recommendation, the Authority is constrained to reiterate the recommendations."

In one of the suggestions, DoT had expressed concern over the lock-in period of two years as proposed by TRAI. The regulatory has accordingly modified the recommendation.

"The Authority has reconsidered the recommendation and the access spectrum in any frequency band should be permitted to be shared under inter-band access spectrum sharing if at least 80% 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.