PRIORITISE PUBLIC GOOD OVER EARNING REVENUE

Auctions are an effective, open and transparent method of allocating scarce resources in many, but not all, circumstances.

- TV RAMACHANDRAN

One cannot for example think of auctioning a shared resource like air, water or roads. Similar is the case of the satellite spectrum. There are over a dozen strong reasons for India to shun the idea of putting satellite spectrum to any form of auction. Space activities are an area of high strategic thrust for India and it is therefore important to have a clear appreciation of the various facts about the issue of satellite spectrum auction.

Mobile spectrum and satellite spectrum are different and the latter is not an auctionable resource. Firstly, satellite spectrum is a shared resource unlike terrestrial mobile spectrum which can be partitioned into small or large chunks that can be exclusively allotted to particular users and therefore the latter can be auctioned. The satellite spectrum is more akin to shared common resources like air, water, roads, etc. and it is unfeasible and impractical to consider auctioning it.

Mobile spectrum is auctioned by putting different chunks of frequency bands as separate auctionable quantities, which can be allocated to different winners. Satellite communication is completely different and follows different international norms and principles. Unlike terrestrial communications, where spectrum is allocated exclusively to the operator for a given area, satellite spectrum is shared amongst multiple operators in different orbital slots and hence does not even meet the fundamental prerequisite for auction. The sharing of satellite frequencies between operators is what results in large capacities being available over a given geography.

THE PERILS OF AUCTION