The new policy becomes effective with "immediate effect", the order said. DoT has also introduced allocation of spectrum in small bunches of one megahertz each instead of the earlier system where it was given in a bunch of 1.8 MHz to 2.2 MHz.

This is in line with the recommendation of the Bandyopadhyay Committee, which was set up by the government to come out with new subscriber norms for GSM operators.

The committee, however, left it to the government on whether to accept the regulator's recommendation or the more stiff recommendation of the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) which had doubled the subscriber criterion suggested by Trai.

In a new order released through the DoT's Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC), an operator can apply for 6.2 MHz when it has reached 1.5 million subscribers, 7.2 MHz when it has reached 1.8 million, 8.2 MHz when it has reached 2.1 million and so forth.

The new slabs are 4.4, 6.2, 7.2, 8.2, 9.2, 10.2, 11.2, 12.2, 13.2 and 14.2 MHz. At present, the lowest tranche for spectrum allocation is 4.4 MHz, followed by 6.2, while 9.2 and 10.2 are the upper slabs.

The new subscriber norms are at least two to four times higher than the current subscriber base norms. However, the GSM operators recently accepted the decision of the government to go by the Trai recommendation.

Releasing the order, the WPC said that active subscribers and peak traffic averaged over a month (for a minimum of 40 milli Erlangs per subscriber) in the visitor locator register (VLR) would be taken for this purpose.