TRAI releases recommendations for 5G spectrum auctions

12 Apr 2022 , 11:06 AM

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations on ‘Auction of spectrum in frequency bands identified for IMT / 5G’ on Monday. Telecom regulator Trai announced a mega auction plan valued at over Rs7.5 trillion at the base price across multiple bands for radiowaves allocated over 30 years.

The telecom regulator has recommended about a 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity.

The key recommendations are listed below:

Auction of Spectrum

i. All available spectrum in existing bands viz. 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new spectrum bands viz. 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz, be put to auction.
ii. For 600 MHz band, APT 600 (Option B1) band should be adopted. By adopting this band plan, additional 10 MHz of spectrum will be made available for IMT. This band will provide total 40 MHz (paired) spectrum. It is also proposed that entire 40 MHz (paired) spectrum [612-652 MHz/663-703 MHz] should be put to auction in the forthcoming auction.
iii. In the frequency range 3300-3670 MHz, both the band plans i.e., n77 and n78 should be permitted and flexibility be given to the TSPs to adopt any band plan i.e., n77 or n78, based on their business/commercial considerations.
iv. In the frequency range 24.25-28.5 GHz MHz, flexibility be given to the TSPs to adopt any band plan i.e., n257 or n258, based on the frequencies assigned to them and other business/commercial considerations.
v. To provide flexibility to the TSPs, block size of 10 MHz for 3300-3670 MHz band and 50 MHz for 24.25-28.5 GHz band recommended. Spectrum to be assigned in a contiguous manner.
vi. Considering the facts that presently (i) band plan(s) for the frequency range 526-612 MHz is yet to be defined by 3GPP/ITU, (ii) development of ecosystem for IMT in 526-612 MHz frequency range will take some time and (iii) MIB is using 526-582 MHz band extensively across the country for TV transmitters; the 526-612 MHz frequency range should not be put to auction in the forthcoming auction.
vii. DoT should come out with a plan for refarming 526-582 MHz band to be utilized for IMT deployments. To make 526-582 MHz band available for IMT, DoT should work with MIB to prepare a plan for an early migration from Analogue to Digital Transmission, so that the frequency band from 526-582 MHz can be vacated for IMT services.
viii. DoT should carry out harmonization exercise in 800 MHz, 900 MH and 1800 MHz bands immediately after conducting the auction so that frequencies assigned to the TSPs are in contiguous manner.