Trai has sought views on pricing, allocation norms and payment terms for spectrum in the 37-37.5 GHz, 37.5-40 GHz and 42.5-43.5 GHz bands
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recently launched a consultation process to sought stakeholders’ views on the auction of three new spectrum bands in higher frequency range.
This potential spectrum auction would make available around 4,000 megahertz of spectrum for 5G mobile services in the country.
Trai has sought views on pricing, allocation norms and payment terms for spectrum in the 37-37.5 GHz, 37.5-40 GHz and 42.5-43.5 GHz bands. This is the first time that the three spectrum bands in 37-37.5 GHz, 37.5-40 GHz and 42.5-43.5 GHz are being proposed for the auction.
While the 37-37.5 GHz band is for mobile services, the other two bands, 37.5-40 GHz and 42.5-43.5 GHz, are for mobile and satellite gateway links.
Trai, in a consultation paper on the bands, has sought the industry’s opinion on various nuances of the auction of spectrum in these new bands, including pricing, validity, preferred block size, spectrum caps, rollout obligations and other terms and conditions.
“These millimeter wave bands offer much higher capacity for small cell coverage and are critical for 5G and 6G services rollout for critical sectors, such as health, robotics and industry 4.0,” ITU-APT Foundation of India (ITU-APT) President Bharat Bhatia said.
Trai has asked the industry to submit written comments on the issues raised in the consultation paper by May 2, 2024.
Trai also asked if spectrum in these frequency ranges should be assigned for 20 years as it was the case with other frequency bands, or for a shorter period of time.
Other questions thrown up by Trai in the consultation paper are whether these frequencies should be assigned for the existing Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) for access service or whether they should be assigned for smaller service areas.
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.
The Indian government recently announced plans to carry out a new spectrum auction during June 2024. In this 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.
