The Silicon Review ^Asia

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. has urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to work out the mandatory schedule for periodic spectrum auctions in order to ensure that telecom operators will get the required radiowaves to meet their network requirements without any delay. Elon Musk-led SpaceX has also shown interest in promoting broadband in India and pushed for satellites for better connectivity and enhancing the efficiency of scarce spectrum available in the country.

India's largest telecom operator Jio, in its consultation paper floated by the TRAI on promoting broadband connectivity and enhancing broadband speed, has stated that the four-year gap in spectrum auction by the government is inexplicable, and a tremendous amount of spectrum remains unutilized and unproductive.

The Mukesh Ambani led firm had in September too written to Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash questioning the Department of Telecom's rationale to pause the policy of annual spectrum auctions and said the sale of airwaves should be held at the earliest to meet the demand for data services. TRAI had recommended a plan to auction spectrum worth Rs 5.22 lakh crore. However, some of the spectrum frequencies identified by the DoT for auction are being used by the Department of Space.