Government keen to ensure level-playing field in spectrum allocation: Sibal

Acknowledging the acute shortage of telecommunications spectrum in the country, communications minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday that the government was keen to ensure a level-playing field in allocating the scarce resource.

''The real problem is that there is a scarcity of spectrum,'' admitted the minister. ''We need to increase the amount of spectrum that can be distributed because this is the vehicle through which the people will be empowered.'' 

Referring to his meeting with top three telecom industry entrepreneurs – Ratan Tata, Anil Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal – Sibal said they were extremely constructive about their approach. They also appreciated the fact that the government was keen on ensuring a level-playing field, he added.

The minister, who was given additional charge of the telecoms portfolio after A. Raja, the disgraced telecom minister – and a leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham – was sacked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month, said the government would ensure a non-discriminatory approach while allocating spectrum.

Sibal, who is a senior Congress leader and an eminent lawyer, pointed out that India had low volume of spectrum available for the public, but this had to be increased. The government would cancel the licences of operators who had not rolled out their services despite being allocated spectrum.

The telecommunications ministry has been demanding additional spectrum from the defence ministry for quite some time, but the defence forces are reluctant to release additional spectrum for civilian purposes.