India’s government on June 15 gave final approval to a proposal for directly allocating airwaves to enterprises, paving the way for them to operate private 5G networks.
Spectrum auction will be held
Indeed, the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has authorized a proposal from the Department of Telecommunications to hold a spectrum auction, in which successful bidders will be assigned spectrum to provide 5G services to the general public and businesses.
Government will auction 72097.85 MHz spectrum for 20-year
According to the official statement, the government will auction a total of 72097.85 MHz spectrum with a 20-year validity by the end of July to help Telecom Service Providers lower their costs of doing business.
India’s 3 major carriers expected to compete
The administration also stated that the 5G spectrum auction would take place by the end of July. The country’s three major carriers, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Reliance Industries Ltd’s Jio, are expected to compete in the auction.
Winning bidder allowed to pay for 5G spectrum in 20 EMIs
The government announced the auction to lower the cost of doing business for Telecom Service Providers by eliminating upfront airwave payments and allowing winning bidders to pay for 5G spectrum in 20 equal monthly instalments (EMIs).
The cabinet decided to set up private captive networks to enable development and spur innovations.
5G network will be 10 times faster then 4G
The government said the 5G services to be rolled out soon would be about 10 times faster than the current offering under 4G.’
5G services will develop employment and new businesses
“Spectrum is an essential component of the overall 5G ecosystem.” The planned 5G services, according to the official statement, “have the potential to develop new-age businesses, generate additional revenue for organisations, and provide employment deriving from the deployment of creative use-cases and technology.”
“It is predicted that Telecom Service Providers would use the Mid and High band spectrum to roll out 5G technology-based services capable of providing speeds and capacities that are approximately 10 times better than what is currently possible with 4G services,” the note continued.
Bidders can quit the spectrum after 10 years
The bidders would be given an option to surrender the spectrum after 10 years with no future liabilities with respect to balance instalments.
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, it added.
Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), in April, had recommended about a 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of 5G spectrum for mobile services.
