Indian telcos urge TRAI to lower spectrum prices ahead of 5G spectrum auction

"In this context, we urge TRAI to revisit the spectrum pricing recommendation, in line with global norms. We also request TRAI to do away with the minimum rollout obligations, giving TSPs the freedom to decide the rollout strategy upon acquiring the spectrum,' Kochhar added.

The government will start the 5G spectrum auction on June 25.

6Ghz spectrum for 5G and 6G

The operators' body also urged the government to strategically plan the availability of spectrum in the 6 GHz band for 5G and 6G as well.

"The availability of 6 GHz mid-band spectrum is crucial to expand the 5G networks, especially the IMT (mobility services) in India. Unfortunately in the last spectrum auction we could get only 800 MHz, so to fulfil the requirement, we need to get 1200 MHz from the 6GHz range," Kochhar said.

A recent report by GSMA says that India can save as much as $10 billion annually in 5G network deployment through the use of 6 GHz spectrum.

COAI said that to achieve the country's mission to be a leader in 6G innovations and deployment, the telecom industry needs massive spectrum resources which can deliver the higher capacity required by 6G. "Thus, we urge the government to strategically plan the 6 GHz resources for 6G as well," he said.

Demand for Fair Usage Policy 

With the new telecom minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia taking charge, Indian telcos, through the COAI, again urged the telecom department and TRAI to introduce a fair share data network usage policy, wherein the Large Traffic Generators (LTGs) or over-the-top players pay a share of their revenue with TSPs who provide the complete infrastructure for their data requirements.

"The rapid surge in data over telecom networks has put tremendous pressure on telecom networks, leading to severe QoS issues, drastically impacting TSPs’ customer experience. We feel this is a clear case of exploitation as the massive investment and efforts of the TSPs are being syphoned off by these service providers," COIA's Kochhar said.

He, however, clarified that telcos are not targeting the smaller players, startups and MSMEs whose traffic generation is negligible compared to that of the LTGs whose services consume large Terabytes of data every day and the revenue they amass in the form of subscription fees and advertising costs are repatriated to their parent countries.

"This causes huge loss, estimated to the tune of Rs 10,000 crores, to the Government exchequer. This is expected to increase further in the coming years, especially with the emergence of newer AI applications and technologies such as video optimization on OTT streaming platforms," he said.

COAI also highlighted the growing problem of telecom equipment theft, which has increased significantly over the past few months.

“There are several legal and technical challenges that make it difficult for them to recover the stolen equipment or to fully recover the loss. The impact of this is huge as it leads to poor quality of service (QoS) to end customers and significant financial loss for the TSPs,” Kochhar said.

The body has urged the DoT to urgently intervene in the matter by directing all State Chief Secretaries to prioritise telcos' theft-related complaints and ensure strict action. It also asked the department to issue orders for blocking of websites selling active equipment.