The cabinet will get the final version of the new National Telecom Policy 2012 for its approval by the end of this month, according to the news reports. The new telecom policy aims to make the country''s telecommunications sector more transparent, relax merger and acquisition norms to encourage consolidation and also give more teeth to sector regulator Trai.

Quoting Telecom Commission Chairman R Chandrashekhar PTI said "The commission has broadly approved the National Telecom Policy. Now we will start the process of sending it to the Cabinet. “By the month end, we should be able to do so and expect approval by end of April.”

The NTP 2012 aims at providing free roaming to telecom users and allowing them to retain that mobile number even outside their circles without paying extra. The new policy will allow telecom players to exit from the business under certain conditions.

Meanwhile, taking next step towards the auction of 2G spectrum the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday issued consultation paper on auction of spectrum seeking comments of all the stakeholders.

The Supreme Court of India in its judgment dated February 2, 2012 had cancelled all 122 licences allotted in 2008 during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja and directing the regulator to make fresh recommendations for grant of licence and allocation of spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction, as was done for allocation of spectrum in 3G band, keeping in view the decision taken by the Central Government in 2011.

As per the directions of the apex court, TRAI had issued a pre-consultation paper on February 2012, on the issue of allocation of spectrum in 2G band in 22 Service Areas by auction.

“On the basis of the comments received from the stakeholders on the pre-consultation paper and considering the international practices, the draft Consultation paperon“Auction of spectrum? has been prepared”, Trai said in a statement.

“The key issues raised in the Consultation paper are quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, liberalization of the spectrum, refarming of spectrum in 800/900 MHz bands, structure of auction, spectrum block size, eligibility criteria for participating in the auction, reserve price, roll out obligations, spectrum usage charges and spectrum trading, it said.    

Trai has asked the stakeholders to send their comments by 21st March 2012 and counter-comments by 28th March 2012.

As per the consultation paper, the cancellation of 122 licences will make 60 Mhz and 413.6 Mhz of spectrum available in 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz spectrum bands respectively.

Trai has not specified minimum price for spectrum to start auction but has asked for model that should be used for determining the base price.