Trai wants spectrum holding caps eased

Vodafone-Idea Cellular likely to retain all their airwaves after the merger

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended relaxing the rules for spectrum-holding caps, a move that will benefit operators such as Vodafone and Idea Cellular to retain their airwaves after the merger as also allow other telcos to get more spectrum in a particular band.

Trai has recommended raising the 25 per cent overall spectrum limit to 35 per cent whereas the 50 per cent intra-band cap has been removed. In place of it, the regulator has proposed having a cap of 50 per cent on the combined spectrum holding in the sub-1 GHz bands (700, 800 and 900