The Indian government is unlikely to allow telcos to trade spectrum bands out of concern it would undermine the practice of allocating spectrum based on subscriber-base.

  According to India's Economic Times, highly placed sources within the Department of Telecom (DoT) believe that spectrum should continue to be allocated based on subscriber numbers, and that spectrum trading would harm the government's regulatory power.

  The DoT recently decided to allow intra-circle roaming pacts, despite concern in some circles that this constitutes a limited form of spectrum trading.

  With roaming pacts, however, the spectrum is not traded but merely rented.

  Meanwhile, India's 3G spectrum auction has been delayed until January to give the DoT time to free up radio spectrum in nine of the country's 22 telecommunications circles.

Source:telecomasia.net