No new spectrum bands will be auctioned in the next tender as the telecoms regulator has not announced any reserve price for these frequencies
The telecom department in India DoT has decided to put all unsold airwaves on sale again at the same base prices as last year’s auction and without the addition of new spectrum bands, local newspaper The Economic Times reported
The report stated that the DoT made this decision after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) declined to provide a new reserve price for spectrum bands auctioned in July-August 2022.
The next spectrum auction in India is scheduled for January 2024 as some licenses of local operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are set to expire in February. This means that no new spectrum bands, including the 37 GHz band, will be auctioned in the next tender as the Trai has not announced any reserve price for these bands.
An official with knowledge of the matter said that the bands will be put to auction with the same band plan, block size and associated conditions as that of last year’s sale.
Last year, the government awarded spectrum in the 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5GHz, 3.3-3.6 GHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz bands. The 1,800 MHz band across India — except for UP (East) — was also awarded during the auction.
Another official said the Department of Telecommunications intended to auction spectrum in the 37 GHz band along with the unsold airwaves but will now be forced to go ahead with a limited sale as the regulator did not provide of reserve price for the new band.
In a previous letter to DoT, the Trai said it won’t be offering fresh recommendations on pricing or other modalities on any spectrum band except for the new 37GHz. The telecom regulator also asked the DoT to use the authority’s recommendations given last year for bands ranging from 600 MHz to 26 GHz. It added that the DoT should auction the existing bands without waiting for the authority’s recommendations.
The DoT had previously excluded the 6 GHz from the upcoming sale. Local operators are asking the government to award this spectrum band for the provision of telecom services while tech companies want this band for the provision of Wi-Fi.
According to local press reports, local carriers Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel could probably be the sole bidders in the spectrum auction as Vodafone Idea lacks the funds to bid in the process.
India completed its first 5G spectrum auction last year. 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.
