NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is soon expected to start the consultation process to set the reserve price for new spectrum bands, identified by the department of telecommunications (DoT) in 37-37.5 GHz, 37.5-40 GHz, and 42.5-43.5 GHz, according to government officials.
The process could take Trai at least six months to prepare its recommendation on auctioning the spectrum and fixing the reserve price.
“The next range from 37 to 43.5 GHz has also been identified for IMT (international mobile telecommunications, and the work has already been started on this part for the consultation process,” said Syed Tausif Abbas, principal advisor at Trai at an industry event on Spectrum management.
Since some of these bands can also be used for satellite services, Trai is also expected to look at it from the perspective of co-existence.
The DoT was keen on bringing the newly identified bands in the upcoming spectrum auction, however, it is now expected to go ahead auctioning the airwaves that were unsold in the previous auctions.
“We had sent our proposal to Trai, seeking their recommendation for the next auction. The regulator gave a go ahead for conducting the auction immediately since we have all the terms and conditions including pricing etc, for legacy bands,” said Gulab Chand, joint wireless advisor at Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) wing of DoT.
“For newer bands, Trai would naturally need more time for consultation and all their process could take not less than six months,” Chand said, adding that the next spectrum auction would take place in this financial year ending March 2023 or early next financial year.
Sources in the know said, DoT is expected to conduct next spectrum auction in January or February given that licences of telcos are going to expire in February in some circles and the government does not want them to lose the already built ecosystem.
In the upcoming auction, spectrum bands in 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz, and 26 GHz band worth about Rs 2.7 trillion is expected to be put on sale by the government.
Source: The Financial Express
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