The Digital Communication Commission (DCC) will conduct next round of spectrum auction in March / April to sell 4G and 5G spectrum.

The decision making body has also approved the reserve price for the radiowaves decided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

India will put a total 8,300 MHz spectrum during the upcoming spectrum auction amounting to Rs 5.23 lakh crore. India will be keeping 6,050 MHz spectrum for 5G network operator out of the 8,300 MHz spectrum.

“We expect good participation in the upcoming auctions with a lot of spectrum available (few got vacated as licences got expired) and with good competition,” Anshu Prakash, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), told reporters.

No demand?

“The DCC’s decision to proceed with spectrum auctions in the near future may be forth with challenges,” said Rajan S Mathew, director general of COAI.

COAI represents major telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio.
Leading mobile service providers are cagey about participating during the spectrum auction due to financial issues.

India has kept the spectrum reserve prices 4 to 6 times higher than that of similar spectrum sold recently in several countries.

“High levels of debt and prevailing financial stress in the sector, telecom service providers will find it very difficult to raise funds to participate in the auctions. Further, the quantum of spectrum in the 5G band being put up for auction will be only 175 MHz, woefully inadequate for operators to roll out robust 5G networks and services,” Rajan S Mathew said.

COAI said it will be prudent to let the sector regain some financial strength from the recent initiatives undertaken before scheduling the auction. The interim period can be used to design and test India specific 5G use cases.

Ericsson, one of the leading telecom network suppliers, earlier said LTE subscriptions in India are forecast to increase by 150 million in 2019. Mobile broadband technologies will account for 57 percent of mobile subscriptions at the end of the year. LTE is forecast to represent 80 percent of mobile subscriptions in 2025.

5G subscriptions are expected to become available in 2022 and will represent 11 percent of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2025 in India, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report | November 2019. In fact, Ericsson did not reveal the forecast on 5G subscriber base for India.

Action plan

The bids for the spectrum auctioneer will be opened on January 13, Anshu Prakash, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), told reporters post the meeting in New Delhi.

One of the important changes in the upcoming spectrum auction is that India government will charge upfront payment of 10 percent for the sub-gigahertz instead of 25 percent earlier, and for the gigahertz and above frequencies it will be 20 percent instead of 50 percent earlier, PTI reported.

Mobile operators can pay the rest of the amount in 16 instalments over the 20 years after a moratorium of two years. The available spectrum will be allocated in the next 30 days of the upfront payment to the operators.

India will auction spectrum in 700 MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz and 3300-3600 MHz.