Regulator to give recommendations on 5G in 7-10 days

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) much-awaited recommendations on 5G spectrum pricing and other modalities will come out in 7-10 days, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The spectrum reference given to the regulator spanned multiple bands and thus involved detailed and exhaustive deliberations, said Trai secretary V. Raghunandan. “We are in the final stages and will come out with the recommendations in 7-10 days,” Raghunandan said.

Trai’s views on spectrum pricing and other nuances are crucial as it will set the pace for the auctions and subsequent rollout of the fifth-generation services that will usher in ultrahigh-speed and spawn new-age services and business models.

The telecom industry was expecting the regulator’s recommendations to come by March-end. The telecom regulator had, in November-end last year, released a detailed consultation paper to discuss the modalities for auction of spectrum across multiple bands, including pricing, quantum and other conditions, preparing the groundwork for 5G auctions.

Trai’s comprehensive consultation paper touches on crucial aspects such as valuation and reserve price of 5G spectrum, quantum of the spectrum, block size, eligibility conditions for participation in the auction, roll-out obligations, spectrum cap, and surrender of the spectrum. Norms will also be worked out for new frequencies such as 526-698 MHz and millimetre band that is 24.25 - 28.5 GHz, in addition to bands like 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, and 3300-3670 MHz.

The last round of spectrum auctions, held in March 2021, had raked in bids of more than ₹77,800 crore for 855.6 MHz of spectrum. However, nearly 63% of the total spectrum remained unsold.

As the country gears up for the mega auction, industry players have been aggressively pitching for lowering spectrum pricing. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel’s chief technology officer (CTO) Randeep Sekhon had recently made an emphatic appeal for “affordable” pricing of 5G radiowaves, saying pricing “will play a very important role”. “If it is very reasonable, then it is very possible that the operator will bring the same money on increasing footprint faster,” Sekhon had said last week.