NEW DELHI: In what could be India's most ambitious digital initiative, the Modi government is planning the largest-ever auction of telecom spectrum - at an estimated value of Rs 6 lakh crore - that will enable introduction of affordable 5G services, including fibre-to-the-home ( FTTH ) internet in rural areas.The plan was cleared by the Digital Communications Commission (DCC) - the highest decision-making body on telecom matters - and will see the government auction nearly 8,600MHz of mobile airwaves, most likely before the end of this year. This would include spectrum for the current bouquet of telecom services, and also for new-age 5G services.Telecom secretary and DCC chairperson Aruna Sundararajan told TOI that even if all the spectrum is sold at the reserve price, the government will net at least Rs 5.8 lakh crore. However, the government's idea is not to maximise revenue but to ensure that telecom services become more inclusive, the telecom secretary said.The DCC asked telecom regulator Trai - which has already suggested reserve prices for the new round of auctions - to look at the reasons for the poor spectrum sale in the previous rounds where only 40% of the airwaves could be sold."Trai should revisit its entire recommendations to see whether the current recommendations are in line with the PM's vision of ensuring 'broadband for all', as well as driving in an 'inclusive and social 5G'," a top official in the telecom ministry said. "The idea is to ensure that 5G is not only used for smart cars and smart cities, but for other inclusive services such as rural health and education."The government is aware of the poor health of the telecom sector, and has thus asked Trai to work out a mechanism that ensures that new companies participate in the next wave of spectrum auctions."Due to extreme consolidation in the telecom sector, how can Trai ensure competition when it comes to the new auctions...? The DCC members felt that spectrum is a valuable commodity and there is no benefit if it remains unsold," said the official. The government is also in the process of taking steps to begin 5G trials in India. While it is still not clear whether Chinese vendor Huawei can participate in the process, the government is trying to ensure that the testing phase is open to a wide spectrum of participants apart from the regular telecom operators (Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea) and equipment providers such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung.We want start-ups and educational institutions to also have access to the 5G test trials. We are seeking a time-bound (application) clearance mechanism, apart from giving out trial spectrum for a period of one-year on a one-time licence fee of just Rs 5,000," said the ministry official.The government is also considering that the five-year lock-in period stipulated for 5G airwaves-which would bar any company from trading the spectrum-should be completely done away with. "The idea is to make the whole process more participative and easy so that 5G trials and auctions are successful," said the official. The official said that the government wants 5G hardware, patents, IPR and other technologies to be developed in India, so that proprietary knowledge and domain remains within the country.Perhaps the most critical decision taken by the DCC was to ensure the spread of digital services and 5G in rural areas, where the government is also looking at the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. As part of this, it was decided that the over 3 lakh common service centres (CSCs)-the digital services initiative of the central government in rural areas- will provide at least two wifi hotspots in 1 lakh gram panchayats and high-speed internet to nearby development institutes.Also, the government wants telecom fibre, which has already been laid out across rural India under the Bharat Net programme, to be used to provide internet at homes through fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) initiative."Also, to take the load off highly-stretched telecom towers and infrastructure, we will encourage that the fibre be used to connect towers so that we can have more data- and voice-carrying capacity." said the official.