New Delhi, July 21
In a move that could help companies significantly reduce cost of mobile services, telecom regulator TRAI today recommended allowing sharing of all categories of airwaves held by operators, including spectrum allocated at old price of Rs 1,658 crore or assigned without auction.

"All access spectrum i.e. spectrum in the bands of 800/900/1800/2100/ 2300/2500 MHz will be sharable provided that both the licensees are having spectrum in the same band," TRAI said in its recommendation on Guidelines on Spectrum Sharing.

At present, telecom operators have been allocated airwaves frequency in 800 megahertz (CDMA), 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz (3G), 2300 Mhz and 2500 Mhz (4G) for wireless telecom services.

The Economic Survey had earlier this month recommended the government to come out with better spectrum management through measures such as trading and sharing of spectrum so as to bring down the cost of spectrum.

"If any one or both of the licensees, sharing their spectrum, have administratively assigned spectrum (allocated without auction) in that band, then, after sharing, they will be permitted to provide only those services which can be provided through the administratively held spectrum," TRAI recommended.

At present, telecom operators are allowed to share passive infrastructure like mobile towers which has helped them reducing operational cost but not active infrastructure like spectrum.

The move to allow sharing of all kind of airwaves if approved by the government, will benefit incumbent players like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel and Tata Teleservices to bring down cost of spectrum ownership.

TRAI has suggested restricting of spectrum sharing to maximum two operators only.

The regulator has also recommended that the government should allow sharing of even 3G spectrum which was specifically barred earlier.

However, it has suggested that sharing of spectrum in same frequency bands should be allowed.

TRAI has recommended that telecom operators may only need to inform licensing authority, at present DoT, about their agreement on spectrum sharing and require no permission from government for sharing of airwaves.

However, the Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC), which is custodian of spectrum, will have authority to raise objection, if any, to spectrum sharing agreement.

In this case, TRAI recommended that WPC should inform about objection within 15 days and companies entered into agreement should reply to the WPC within the next 15 days of the receiving of the communication from the wing.

The regulator clarified that spectrum sharing should not mean merger of networks.

TRAI has recommended that DoT should levy one-time non-refundable fee of Rs 50,000 per operator for each service area in which they opt for spectrum sharing.

The regulator has recommended that 50% of spectrum held by one telecom operator in the spectrum band being shared will be considered as additional spectrum for the other for calculation purpose under the spectrum cap rule.

As per the rule, a telecom company can hold maximum of 50% spectrum assigned to all companies in a circle and 25% in a frequency band. — PTI 

New Delhi, July 21
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said though the government is making full efforts to bring back the black money stashed abroad, the Income Tax Department should focus on unearthing black money within the country which is also quite large.

He was addressing officers of the Income Tax Department after inaugurating the two-day annual conference of Principal Chief Commissioners, Principal Director Generals, Chief Commissioners and Director Generals of Income Tax here today.

Jaitley has asked the IT Department to focus on the black money within the country which sometimes gets less attention given the spotlight on black money abroad. He said the Government is making full efforts to bring back the black money stashed abroad but the officers of the Department have to make equally serious efforts to unearth black money within the country.

The Finance Minister also expressed hope that the revenue targets fixed for direct taxes for the current year would not only be achieved but would also be surpassed.

The current year target for direct tax collection is Rs 7.36 lakh crore. The Finance Minister said in order to achieve this target, the officers of the I-T Department will have to work with highest standard of ethics as the credibility of the Department is its biggest asset.

He said the job of the officers of the I-T Department is very difficult in the sense that on the one hand they have to achieve the tax collection targets, on the other hand they have to play the role of tax facilitator.

Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the focus and efforts of the officers of the department should be to reduce tax arrears which are to the tune of Rs 4 lakh crore and higher tax recovery. He also asked them to reduce tax litigation and avoid frivolous and avoidable litigation in this regard.

RK Tiwari, chairman, CBDT, enumerated the various steps taken to augment revenue collection, including monitoring of advance tax payments by top taxpayers and TDS payments, among others.

Mumbai, July 21
Kingfisher House, the former headquarters of the sick Kingfisher Airlines, is set to be sold by banks after its promoter Vijay Mallya withdrew an appeal to restrain the sale of the property.

Acting on a petition by a consortium of 17 banks, the Karnataka High Court had last December cleared the sale of the property along with Mallya’s Kingfisher Villa in Goa. However, the former liquor baron moved the apex court seeking to restrain the banks from disposing of the property.

According to sources, Mallya today withdrew the appeal before the Supreme Court thereby paving the way for the banks to invite bids from potential buyers.

The SBI, which is the lead banker in the consortium, is expected to take possession of the Kingfisher House located outside the Mumbai airport soon, according to sources.

Though the prime property is located on the Western Express Highway, it is not expected to command a huge price because of the height restrictions in the area around the airport. Real estate agents had earlier valued the property at around Rs 100 crore.

New Delhi, July 21
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has signed an MoU for setting up an ultra mega solar power project at Sambhar in Rajasthan.

The MoU has been signed between BHEL, Solar Energy Corporation, Sambhar Salts, PowerGrid Corporation, Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam and Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Ltd for formation of a joint venture company for setting up of a Ultra Mega Solar Power Project (UMSPP) with a cumulative capacity of 4,000 MW in phases at Sambhar in Rajasthan on build, own and operate basis.

The planned first phase implementation of the UMSPP at Sambhar is of 1,000 MW, and the balance 3,000 MW in subsequent phases. This is an initiative of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Industries (HI&PE), Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Ministry of Power (MoP).

The project is likely to be completed in 7 to 8 years from the date of all the approvals & clearances.

This information was given today by Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Pon Radhakrishnan in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.

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