Report: The government is seeking approval from the Supreme Court to change the allocation of spectrum

The Supreme Court should revise the 2012 ruling, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has argued, asking for authorization for administrative allocation in certain situations when holding auctions is not logistically possible.

According to a recent Moneycontrol article, auctions would still be used to allocate spectrum for mobile services, with administrative airwave allotment kept for specific uses like satellite and space communication.

The government representatives made it clear that the application complies with the procedures that were followed before the Telecom Bill was introduced in Parliament. They emphasized that the application does not call for the Supreme Court’s ruling to be changed.

The distribution of spectrum for mobile services will still be done via auction. Actually, there is one auction for 4G and 5G spectrum happening right now, according to sources who were included in the story.

Administrative allocation will be limited to specific cases under the Telecom Act of 2023, including providing spectrum for police walkie-talkies, radar for weather forecasting, communication and radar for ships, communication for space and satellite applications, and radar and communication for the Armed Forces and PSU like BSNL.

These allocations cover just a very small portion of the cases—roughly 5 to 7 percent.

The Supreme Court is examining an application for clarification on these matters in light of the many lawsuits. Before the telecom bill was introduced in parliament, it was submitted to the Supreme Court in accordance with due procedure, the sources said.