In yet another move to increase rural teledensity, TRAI has rec ommended that the government create a national rural telecom licence that allows companies to operate different telecom services exclusively in the rural areas.

In yet another move to increase rural teledensity, TRAI has recI ommended that the government create a national rural telecom licence that allows companies to operate different telecom services exclusively in the rural areas. The regulator has proposed that companies that offer services under the new licence be charged only a nominal entry fee and be exempted from all other charges, including licence fee, spectrum fee and revenue share. TRAI had earlier recommended that niche operators be permitted in rural areas without any licence and spectrum fee. For existing telecom operators, the regulator has reiterated that the government abolish spectrum charges for rural operations. But it has added that semi-urban and semi-rural areas in the periphery of large towns be excluded from the definition of “rural”.