On February 13, 2026, the Supreme Court declared that telecom spectrum is a public resource owned by India, held by the Union government in trust for the people. Telecom service providers (TSPs) do not own the spectrum and cannot list it as an asset under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Justices P.S. Narasimha and Atul Chandurkar explained that the IBC applies only to assets owned by the corporate debtor. "Mere recognition of spectrum licensing rights as an intangible asset by TSPs in the financial statements is not conclusive of their ownership," said Justice Narasimha. The court stressed that the spectrum license gives only a limited, conditional, and revocable right to use the spectrum, not full ownership. The Union government and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) control the telecom sector and spectrum management. The court warned against applying the IBC to rewrite rights and liabilities related to spectrum, which follows a separate legal framework. The ruling follows cases involving Aircel Limited, Aircel Cellular Limited, and Dishnet Wireless Limited, which defaulted on license fees. When the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sought recovery, these firms tried to use the IBC insolvency process to resolve dues. The top court clarified that spectrum cannot be sold or transferred under insolvency as TSPs do not own it. It also ruled that fees owed to DoT are not "operational debts" under the IBC since they are regulatory charges, not payments for goods or services. "Treating such dues as operational debt would permit insolvency proceedings to undermine statutory and regulatory control over natural resources," the court noted.