The authorities plans to raise $83B through the spectrum auction tender
The government of India has approved the reserve prices for spectrum blocks in seven bands, a process in which the authorities expect to generate approximately $83 billion in revenue, local press reported.
The reserve prices for the pan-India spectrum auction were set during a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the government has not yet made a decision on the spectrum usage charge that winning operators will have to pay; the cabinet has requested the recommendations of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India about this issue. The authorities said they will publish full auction documents and invite applications to take part in the tender process once the spectrum usage charge is defined.
The government expects to auction more than 2,300 megahertz of spectrum across the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum bands. According to the reports, the auction will likely take place in August or September.
The reserve prices recommended by the Trai range from 8.17 billion rupees ($121.14 million) for spectrum in the 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands, up to 114.8 billion rupees for spectrum in the 700 MHz band.
The local telecom regulator also recommended base prices of 28.73 billion rupees for the 1,800 MHz band, 33.41 billion rupees for the 900 MHz band, 37.46 billion rupees for the 2.1 GHz band and 58.19 billion rupees for spectrum in the 800 MHz band.
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AIS launches voice over Wi-Fi services in Thailand
In other APAC news, Thailand’s largest mobile telephony operator Advanced Info Service has launched voice over Wi-Fi technology.
The telco said the new service will be initially for Apple iPhone device users only. AIS said that VoWi-Fi technology will allow its customers to make and receive calls over Wi-Fi connections using their own phone number. The solution is particularly aimed at mobile telephony usage in buildings and other areas with poor cellular network coverage.
AIS initially launched commercial LTE services in January through spectrum in the 1,800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands. The operator currently has approximately 38 million subscribers, including 7.3 million 4G subscribers.