With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recently submitting recommendations on spectrum pricing and other issues, the 5G auctions are now expected to take place within 2-3 months and the services may be rolled out across the country by the end of this year. In this year’s Budget 2022, the government also said the auction will be conducted this year.
The Trai Recommendations
The telecom sector regulator on Monday recommended about a 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the 5G offering, and mooted a mega auction plan of Rs 7.5 lakh crore. The recommendations were earlier expected to come by March-end but later got delayed by a few days to early-April.
For the prime 5G frequency of 3300-3670 MHz band, the all-India reserve price adds up to Rs 317 crore per MHz, which is more than 35 per cent lower than the Rs 492 crore/MHz suggested by Trai last time around. On a 20-year scenario, the floor price in the 700 MHz band has been cut by 40 per cent to Rs 3,927 crore per MHz for a pan-India spectrum while the same in 800 MHz has been lowered by 22 per cent to about Rs 3,620 crore per MHz, pan-India.
The regulator cut the reserve prices as more than 60 per cent of the spectrum put on the block at the auctions in 2016 and March 2021 remained unsold.
In November 2021, the Trai had released a detailed consultation paper to discuss the modalities for spectrum auctions, including high-speed 5G, across multiple bands, including pricing, quantum and other conditions.
Bands To Be Auctioned
The telecom regulator has recommended Trai to auction airwaves in all existing bands — 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz. A large swathe of spectrum remained unsold in the previous two auctions.
“Enterprise may obtain the spectrum on lease from TSPs and establish their own isolated Captive Wireless Private Network…Enterprise may obtain the spectrum directly from the Government and establish their own isolated Captive Wireless Private Network,” TRAI said.
When is The Auction Likely To Take Place?
During the Budget Speech 2022, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the 5G telecom spectrum auction will be held in 2022 and the network will be rolled out in the current financial year 2022-23. However, now that the Trai has submitted its recommendations, the 5G auction is likely to take place in May-June so that the initial 5G services in the country can be started on the Independence Day, an ET report said.
DoT had earlier requested TRAI to expedite the submitting process so that 5G services in the country can be started on the independence day, i.e., August 15, 2022.
Recently, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also said the auction of the 5G spectrum will be held on schedule and within the stipulated timeline.
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