The government is looking to award additional mid-band spectrum as well as frequencies in the sub-6 GHz bands for 5G
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is currently working on freeing up additional frequencies to support 5G services, local newspaper The Economic Times reported.
The report noted that the Indian government could potentially auction these new 5G frequencies in the next financial year starting April 1.
According to the report, the government is looking to award additional mid-band spectrum (1 GHz to 6 GHz), as well as frequencies in the sub-6 GHz bands, particularly between 37 GHz and 42 GHz.
The DoT has created a special committee with the aim of defining the amount of spectrum that can be put up for sale. The committee is in process of making consultations with other ministries regarding this process.
Once the DoT committee identifies the spectrum bands and the precise amount of frequencies that can be auctioned, the matter will be placed before the committee of secretaries, after which recommendations will be sought from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on pricing and other modalities, the report states.
The telecommunications regulator is also already working on a DoT reference for giving recommendations on pricing for auction of satellite spectrum as well as for the E (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz) and V (57-64 GHz and 64-71 GHz) bands.
The much-anticipated 5G spectrum auction in India concluded last August and according to the country’s telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, local carriers purchased a total $19 billion worth of spectrum.
Reliance Jio walked away with the most spectrum, having spent $11 billion. Airtel won spectrum worth $5.4 billion, while Vodafone received spectrum worth $2.4 billion. Finally, Adani purchased spectrum worth approximately $27 million, which it will use to offer private 5G network services.
Local operators Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are deploying 5G infrastructure nationwide at a fast pace. Bharti Airtel aims to provide 5G services in 300 cities across the country by March 2024, compared to the current 70, the company’s CEO Gopal Vittal recently said.
In October 2022, Bharti Airtel launched 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi.
The Indian operator is currently using equipment from Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung to provide 5G services. The Indian operator had secured a total of 19,800 megahertz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands in a recent auction carried out by the Indian government.
Rival operator Reliance Jio Infocomm recently said its 5G service is already active in 225 cities across India.
Jio is offering the 5G connectivity on an invitational basis, with users living in 5G-enabled cities who have 5G compatible smartphones receiving invitations.
The telco had initially announced the launch of the beta trial of its 5G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi in October. Jio is offering 5G through a Standalone network architecture.
Last year, Reliance Jio Infocomm announced 5G contracts with Nordic vendors Ericsson and Nokia.
