On August 1, 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended the auction of spectrum for offering 5G services for the first time in the country at a reserve price of about ` 492 crore per MHz on a pan-India basis.
TRAI also suggested over 43 per cent reduction in the reserve prices of 700 MHz band spectrum. The recommended pan-India reserve price for 700 MHz now is ` 6,538 crore per MHz as opposed to ` 11,500 crore in 2016. When the last auction for spectrum took place in October 2016, around 60 per cent remained unsold due to high pricing.
The regulator has recommended that the entire available spectrum be put to auction in the forthcoming sale. It has recommended a pan-India base price of ` 4,651 crore for paired spectrum in 800 MHz band covering 19 circles, ` 1,622 crore per MHz for 900 MHz band covering seven circles, ` 3,399 crore per MHz for 2100 MHz covering 21 circles and ` 821 crore per MHz in 2500 MHz band covering 12 circles, and ` 960 crore per MHz for unpaired spectrum in 2300 MHz band.
The authority called for an ‘urgent need’ of regular audit of all allocated spectrum both commercial as well as that allocated to various government entities and organisations, by an independent agency.
To avoid monopolisation of suggested 5G spectrum band, it has been recommended that there is a limit of 100 MHz per bidder. Experts have also suggested use of higher frequency bands like 3300-3600 MHz for 5G services. TRAI has also said spectrum trading in this band should be allowed after a lock-in period of 5 years in place of 2 years applicable in case of other bands. It has suggested no time-bound network roll out obligation on this band.
Though concerns have been raised in the recent past about the financial situation of the sector and its revenue growth due to intense competition, TRAI was of the view that there is definite amount of visibility and saying that industry is not in a position to assess its spectrum requirements is not totaly correct.