A few days ago on December 20, a 5.22 lakh crores spectrum sale plan was approved by the Digital Communications Commission; this plan is different from the new 5G chunk. And, the government is soon to propose TRAI for giving its recommendations for 5G bands or on ‘millimetre wave bands’ of 24.75-27.25 GHz. Not only this, but the government also plans to auction the new spectrum sometime next year in 2020, according to the sources.
As mentioned above that the 5.22 lakh crores spectrum which is already approved by the Department of Telecom (DoT) which includes 8,300 MHz of airwaves that are across 22 circles are set for March-April 2020, is different from the new 5G chunk.
The sources from the Department of Telecom (DoT) said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will soon be approached for their recommendations on the desired bands for 5G viz. the ‘millimetre wave bands’ of 24.75-27.25 GHz. And, they plan to do that in January 2020 for these additional 5G bands.
Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) has been approaching TRAI’s views on the 26 GHz band.
Also, Dot wants to put these bands on auction sometime early next year, but, they also pointed out that there are specific timelines that are involved in TRAI responses & reference.
Sources are also of the view that they cannot pre-judge the issue considering the industry’s reservations on current prices & whether there will be any buyers for the additional 5G spectrum.
COAI Director General, Rajan Mathews had quoted to PTI saying, “We request an early referral from DoT to Trai to make a recommendation for including the 26 GHz band for the planned spectrum auction in conjunction with other bands as this is imperative and will have a significant bearing on realising the deployment of 5G in India.”
A source also revealed that telcos will have to pay $9,000 crores for the spectrum & there will be a two-year moratorium on spectrum payments. The remaining amounts need to be paid in 16 installments. Plus, they will also need to invest in 5G application & capex to make it a complete model.
