Under an unexpected move, the country's largest telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has written to the telecom minister A. Raja opposing the recommendations made by the telecom regulator TRAI to pay for the 2G spectrum that the telcos hold beyond 6.2Mhz.

While the country's largest telecom major is of a view that if the policy is implemented it may well prove to be a hurdle in the growth story of the Indian telecom sector, TRAI, on the other end, believes that the spectrum is a scarce national resource and should be used judiciously.

In the letter that Airtel wrote to the telecom minister, it has questioned the move of TRAI as the telecom companies have already paid a fixed charge of Rs 1,650 crore for the new spectrum in 2008 apart from the charges paid in 2006.

In fact, the company has strongly opposed the move of levying a one-time charge on any previous allocations against the terms and conditions of licence or allocations.

Moreover, Airtel also highlighted the fact that if any such charge is being made, it has to be reasonable keeping in mind the fact that the telecom companies have invested huge money in creating a network for the rural parts of the country.