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The DoT's apex decision-making body Digital Communication Commission Member Manish Sinha has said that telecom sector revenue may cross Rs 5 trillion in the next two years in line with the present growth trend fuelled by ease of doing business measures introduced by the government in the last 2-3 years. He mooted the idea of relooking at current practices of spectrum allocation and working on new methodologies like dynamic spectrum allocation, and for shorter duration to enhance spectrum usage efficiency and derive its economic value.  

According to a report by sector regulator Trai, telecom service providers posted a gross revenue of Rs 3.36 trillion in the financial year 2024. Sinha said the telecom sector will touch Rs 4 trillion in gross revenue this year. He said that if there is a burst in revenue through any big innovation then probably it will put to rest the demand of fair share from the over-the-top applications. He noted that telecom operators have not been able to realise the full value of spectrum that they bought in old auctions and mooted an idea of allocating spectrum for a shorter duration instead of a long period of 10 or 20 years.

He said there are issues of spectrum utilisation, efficiency, and economic value that are rather changing the rationale on the way spectrum band needs to be allocated and the commercial terms on which allocation of spectrum needs to be done. He said ‘we need to evolve models to measure spectrum utilisation efficiency and spectrum economic value’. He noted that in 2010, when the first auction was held, all the spectrum that was allocated then has probably become valueless today. The auctions for 3G and wireless broadband access spectrum in 2010 had fetched the government around Rs 1 trillion. He added that spectrum bands are undergoing such transformation in terms of economic value in a span of 10-14 years.