The department of telecommunications (DoT) plans to ask telecom regulator Trai's views on the allocation of premium 4G spectrum in 700 Mhz band worth Rs 65,000 crore to the Indian Railways without any auction.

"Indian Railways has asked for 10 Mhz of spectrum in 700 Mhz band for setting up public safety and security service. The Digital Communications Commission has decided that DoT should take views of Trai in this matter," Aruna Sundararajan said after the meeting of Digital Communications Commission (DCC), earlier named Telecom Commission, on Tuesday.

The spectrum in 700 Mhz band is the most efficient to offer mobile data services, but in the last auction, there were no takers for this band because of a steep reserve price.

In its latest recommendations on spectrum auction and pricing, Trai has recommended a base price of Rs 6,568 crore per Mhz of spectrum in 700 Mhz band, which was 43% lower than the one recommended during the auction.

For 700 Mhz, the earlier recommended reserve price was at Rs 11,485 crore per Mhz, but this spectrum remained unsold during the last auction in October 2016 because of a high price. Under the current rules, spectrum is allocated only through an auction process.

State-run telecom player BSNL has also been asking for the allotment of 700 Mhz spectrum in lieu of its equity, but the department is yet to take any final call on this matter.

The Commission also decided to allow government's engineering and consultancy firm Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) to raise funds by diluting 25% stake. "The decision is in line with that of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs to disinvest 25% in the company. TCIL had requested to carry on the piggyback transaction of 10% which the DCC approved. TCIL has been allowed to retain fund raised from 10% stake for working capital and rest of the 15% will go to the government," Sundararajan said.

The entry fee for setting up of a VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) network, which is a satellite communications system that serves home and business users, has been reduced to Rs 15 lakh from Rs 30 lakh. A waiver of Rs 16 lakh that organisations required to pay for each VSAT hub has also been done by the Commission.

The Commission rejected a proposal of Trai to create data aggregators as it felt that many players are already doing similar work and decided against creating a new category for data services under telecom

SEEKING CLEAR SIGNAL

• Rs 65,000 cr – worth of 4G spectrum allocation planned for Railways  
• Rs 6,568 cr – base price for per Mhz spectrum in 700 Mhz band