Auction of 5G Spectrum in India – All you Need to Know!
Auction of 5G Spectrum in India is an ongoing battle that originated in 2017 when the Government of India initiated the auction for the first time.
Claimed to be the only saving grace that got us through the anxious-ridden pandemic times, Connectivity has once again shown its potential in this digitally sustained world. And the latest technology at the apex is the hyped 5G Technology and its Spectrum allocation in different countries.
Though late to the party, consumers in India are also attentively waiting for this famed technology and asking When Will Auction of 5G Spectrum in India Start?
However, the obstacle lies in the battle of the Auction of 5G Spectrum in India that is barring the doors of its launch to later dates.
Auction of 5G Spectrum in India is an ongoing battle that originated in 2017 when the Government of India initiated the auction for the first time.
But the results were less than satisfactory since the big telecoms at that time opposed against the low range of Auction of 5G Spectrum in India as well as the high prices the government set up at that time.
And so, the stalemate continued that further got delayed due to sudden pandemic lockdown and this led us to the present scenario.
However, before starting the obvious reasons for this continued battle of the Auction of 5G Spectrum in India, let’s explore what the 5G Spectrum is all about.
Everything to Know about 5G Spectrum
Spectrum allocation for any telecom technology is always been an issue that affects mobile operators the most. And though it is a headache of telecoms, spectrum allocation affects the consumer too indirectly.
To understand it better, every cellular wireless generation whether it is 2G, 3G, 4G or the latest 5G every one of these requires certain bands that could support these carrier waves so that connectivity could be maintained. And since these bands fall under the jurisdiction of the government of every country, the spectrum of these bands is allocated through an auction every time.
Talking specifically about the Auction of 5G Spectrum in India, the telecom operators require low-bands (like sub-1 GHz) to support widespread coverage, across indoors, urban, suburban as well as rural areas, while the mid-band spectrum covers a mixture of coverage and capacity benefits.
For long-term plans, more spectrum will be required to maintain 5G quality of service that includes more spectrum in the 3.5 GHz, 4.8 GHz, 6 GHz and 10 GHz ranges.
Different from earlier cellular wireless generations, 5G requires a mixture of spectrum across low i.e., sub-1 GHz, mid or 3.5GHz, and high i.e., mmWave bands.
The minimum band range requirement is of 100MHz of prime mid-band and around 1GHz of spectrum per operator in the high band for the initial 5G deployment.
Battle for Auction of 5G Spectrum in India
Summarizing the last 4-5 years that plagued the telecom market in launching 5G technology in India started in 2017 which further got delayed during a pandemic outbreak.
The root of this battle for the Auction of 5G Spectrum in India started in 2017 when the government commenced an auction of the 5G spectrum for the first time. Spectrum in bands over 3000 MHz was said to be sold in that auction.
However, the Auction of 5G Spectrum in India fell through at that time due to telecom’s demand to push back the spectrum scale due to its high pricing.
And though TRAI completed its consultation with stakeholders, no further action took place that caused a deadlock between mobile operators and the government.
In another attempt, the government tried to break this deadlock in 2018 by lowering the price of the 700 MHz band, as TRAI offered the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 3300-3600 MHz bands to be auctioned as 5G bands at that time. But the talks failed through again.
Entering December 2019, the Digital Communications Commission (DCC) announced to keep the reserve prices for the sale of 8,300 MHz spectra at Rs 5.22 lakh crore. And now this Auction of 5G Spectrum in India has moved to February in 2022.
Spectrum pricing comes up as one of the first things that need to be addressed as the majority of telcos have expressed their displeasure at the reserve price set by the government of ₹492 crores per MHz in the 3.5 GHz bands. Therefore, a middle ground needs to be found by TRAI and telcos to solve this deadlock on spectrum prices.
Another reason for delaying the quick 5G deployment and another factor that irked the operators was the lack of availability of some spectrum bands in the 5G Spectrum Auction in India.
Since TRAI offered only 3.4-3.6 GHz that is, mid-band spectrum for 5G services, the operators saw the need to introduce the Millimetre-wave spectrum between 30 GHz and 300 GHz. Also, only 175MHz was made available for Auction of 5G Spectrum in India which the telcos believe is highly inadequate and insufficient to unveil the next generation 5G services in several new technologies like AI, ML, etc.
The absence of a millimeter band, high pricing as well as limited range offered by TRAI served as the main reasons for the current bind between TRAI and telecom.
Conclusion
Despite the long stalemate between TRAI and mobile operators, it is high time that the Auction of 5G Spectrum in India happens successfully as several discussions have been going on between the government and big telecom corporations to upgrade India to the 5G era.
The time has come now to rethink the spectrum strategy and come up with a win-win solution to enable optimal utilization of the 5G services in India without further delay.
