DoT seeks Trai view on allocating spectrum to railways

The Department of Telecom has decided to seek Trai review on the allocation of spectrum worth Rs 65,000 crore to Indian Railways without 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 the DoT should take the view of Trai in the matter," Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters after the meeting of DCC.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended base price of Rs 6,568 crore per megahertz of radiowaves in 700 Mhz band, implying the total value of airwaves is around Rs 65,680 crore at the reserve price.

May impact levies

The frequency band is earmarked for mobile services and allocating it to Indian Railways for non-commercial use may also adversely impact levies like adjusted gross revenue, spectrum usage charges and licence fee collected.

The DCC also approved bringing of audio-conferencing service under ambit of telecom licence as it was once used by a company to provide free calls on mobile phones through app by using landline connections. Calls made from landline connections do not attract any interconnection usage charges, while the levy is imposed on mobile to mobile calls from different networks.