In the upcoming auction, 5G airwaves in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands will be put up for sale
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decided to postpone its upcoming spectrum auction from May 20 to June 6, local press reported.
According to the reports, the decision to push back the auction was chiefly due to allow the process to take place after the country’s general elections. India’s general election is slated to start on April 19, while the results are expected to be revealed on June 4.
The report also noted that the mock auction originally expected to take place on May 13-14 has also been pushed back to June 3.
The report said that the DoT amended the notice inviting application (NIA) on April 3 to postpone the date at the request of local carriers Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, who want the auction to take place after the election results are announced.
In the upcoming auction, 5G airwaves in 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands will be put up for sale.
According to sources with knowledge of the matter, the auction will only draw a few bids from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) for renewing their frequencies.
The permits of Bharti Airtel and Vi will expire in 2024 in some of India’s geographic circles. Airtel’s airwave renewals this year are in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in the circles of J&K, Odisha, Bihar, UP-East, West Bengal and Assam. Vi faces spectrum renewals in West Bengal (900 MHz and 1800 MHz) and UP-West (900 MHz).
Earlier this year, the DoT confirmed it will not auction the 600 MHz band in the upcoming spectrum auction, as the body aims to conduct more studies to ensure there is no interference with satellite operations.
According to local newspaper The Economic Times, an official had said that India wanted to be part of the countries offering IMT in 600 MHz, but that this was opposed by China. The 600 MHz spectrum band was put on sale in the last auction in August 2022, but it remained unsold.
India completed its first 5G spectrum auction in July 2022. 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 telco Reliance Jio Infocomm has already completed the rollout of 5G technology in India. Reliance Jio Infocomm has been rapidly expanding its 5G network using Standalone (SA) architecture since October 2022.
Meanwhile, rival carrier Bharti Airtel previously said it was on track to cover the entire country with 5G technology by March 2024.
