Narendra Modi government gives nod to 5G auction

THE Indian cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi has eventually given its approval to the department of telecommunication’s (DoT) 5G spectrum auction. The spectrum will be assigned to bidders through the procedure to provide 5G services to enterprises as well as people.

According to reports, a total auction of 72097.85 MHz of spectrum with a validity of 20 years will be put to auction and the event is said to be held by the end of July.

India’s information technology and communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted that the spectrum auction is “an integral part of developing BharatKa5G ecosystem”.

The Press Information Bureau said in an official release that the “auction will be held for spectrum in various Low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz) and High (26 GHz) frequency bands”.

The auction is expected to benefit from the Telecom Sector Reforms announced last September. The reforms include zero Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) on the spectrum acquired in the auction, giving relief to the service providers in terms of operating cost of the telecom networks.

The cabinet also said that it is for the very first time that “there is no mandatory requirement to make upfront payment by the successful bidders.”

Payments for spectrum can be made in 20 advance equal annual instalments to be paid in at the start of each year. “The bidders would be given an option to surrender the spectrum after 10 years with no future liabilities with respect to balance instalments,” the government said in a statement.

“The availability of sufficient backhaul spectrum is also necessary to enable the roll-out of 5G services. To meet the backhaul demand, the cabinet has decided to provisionally allot 2 carriers of 250 MHz each in E-band to the Telecom Service Providers. The cabinet also decided to double the number of traditional Microwave backhaul carriers in the existing frequency bands of 13, 15, 18 and 21 GHz bands,” the statement added.