Telecom regulator Trai has asked the department of telecom to consider its recommendations made last year on spectrum auctions to plan the sale of radiowaves, according to a senior government official.

DoT joint wireless adviser Gulab Chand, during a panel discussion at the India Spectrum Management Conference, said the government is trying its best to hold spectrum auctions by the end of the current fiscal or early next fiscal.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked the department to go ahead with recommendations for lower frequency bands last year for 5G spectrum auction, and it will take time to come up with suggestions on pricing and other modalities for new frequency bands, he said on Wednesday.

“They (Trai) said reserve price, eligibility criteria, everything is with you for legacy bands. Why don’t you go ahead with all those conditions and immediately conduct the auctions? For the new bands - Q (33-50 Ghz) band and V (40-75 Ghz) band, they will need more time,” Chand said.

He said much of the spectrum allocated in the lower band earlier is due to expire this fiscal and telecom operators would like to acquire it again. “We are trying very hard to hold the auction, if not within this fiscal, then maybe just in the beginning of next fiscal,” Chand said.

The Union cabinet in September 2021 decided that spectrum auctions should be normally held in the last quarter of every financial year.