New Delhi, Nov. 21 -- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) faces one of its toughest challenges yet after ongoing discussions about the upcoming spectrum auction sparked major clashes, with Big Tech companies challenging telecom operators and the telecom companies themselves - especially Airtel and Jio - also at odds with each other.

The disagreements are over how India's most important digital resource - radio spectrum - should be used, how much it should cost, when critical new frequencies should be released and whether telecom companies should get more flexibility in rolling out services.

The biggest tension is over the 6 GHz band, which could power superfast Wi-Fi and future 5G/6G networks. The disagreements also cover t...