DoT issues Cabinet note on spectrum auctions, seeks comments: Report

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is seeking comments on conducting spectrum auctions, including for licences about to expire next year and some new spectrum in those frequency bands, but excluding 5G airwaves. It has circulated a Cabinet note for the same.

5G is being kept off the table as the DoT feels the industry has no “appetite for the high technology airwaves” as companies are “going through a financial crisis” due to the ongoing adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue, a source told the Business Standard.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Among the spectrum on offer include the 700 megahertz (MHZ) spectrum that was unsold in 2016. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has fixed a base price of Rs 6,568 crore per MHZ for this, which is Rs 11,485 crore lower than the 2016 price, it added.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has asked that 25 MHZ (from 3,400 MHZ to 3,425 MHZ) of the 5G spectrum be reserved for it, while the Ministry of Defence has also kept reserved a “sizeable portion” of the spectrum, the source stated, adding that this was another reason 5G is off the table this time.

TRAI suggested in 2008 that 33,003,600 MHZ band for 5G be auctioned in 20 MHZ blocks each at Rs 492 crore per MHZ. This was, however, opposed by telcos who cited comparable band auctions in the UK, Italy, Spain and South Korea costing an average Rs 84 crore per MHZ.