Cabinet approves 5G spectrum auction as services begin rolling out

15 Jun 2022 , 01:43 PM

According to a statement, India's cabinet has authorized a plan to sell high-speed fifth-generation, or 5G, telecom spectrum for 20 years by the end of July.

The government said that 72 GHz of the spectrum will be auctioned in the low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz), and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.

5G telecommunications services, which are projected to be available shortly, will offer ten times the speed and capacity of 4G.

The cabinet has also given the green light to so-called private captive networks, which allow businesses and technology behemoths to create their own networks to enable machine-to-machine communication, Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence applications in industries such as automotive, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and others.

India, which has some of the world's lowest communication costs, has experienced fierce competition in the telecom market in recent years, resulting in consolidation.

Meanwhile, the government is working to create domestic 5G technology and has boosted activity in the industry with production-linked incentives for mobile phones, telecom equipment, and semiconductors, all of which are expected to help with 5G deployment. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that 6G services will be available by the end of the decade.

The firms will benefit from the measures announced in September 2021, including $0 spectrum usage costs, during the future 5G auction. Furthermore, the necessity to present a financial bank guarantee equal to one yearly installment has been removed.

Successful bidders for the 5G airwaves will not be required to pay up in advance. Payments for spectrum can instead be made in 20 equal yearly installments in advance at the start of each year, according to the government.

Furthermore, the bidders can relinquish the spectrum after ten years with no further commitments for balance payments, according to the document.

It was unclear if the cabinet had adopted the department of telecommunications' proposals on spectrum pricing.