Railways, DoT on different bandwidth over 700 Mhz spectrum allotment

The transporter wants premium spectrum for free; govt reluctant to lose revenue

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is reviewing allotting the premium 700 Mhz spectrum to the Indian Railways for signalling and WiFi services, but the Centre is not happy to give it for free. Instead, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) wants to assign a higher quantum of 900 Mhz spectrum — that the Railways already uses — for seamless connectivity.

At present, the Railways has 2.5-3 Mhz of 900 Mhz spectrum. But, it is available only in some places, and so Railways cannot provide seamless WiFi connectivity, as it is not contiguous.

A telecom ministry official aware of the