The government of India aims to award additional 5G spectrum in March
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) set a lower revenue target for a planned spectrum auction in March, because local carriers have enough frequencies and will chiefly focus on renewing their existing frequencies in regions where they are expiring, according to local press reports.
According to the reports, the DoT expects the sale of spectrum in eight bands to generate INR20 billion ($240.5 million) to INR30 billion.
Indian newspaper Financial Express said the DoT previously estimated the auction would raise INR80 billion to INR90 billion.
According to government officials, all the unsold frequencies from the previous spectrum auction, as well as some additional frequencies in the 37 GHz band, will be put up on sale in the upcoming process.
According to sources with knowledge of the matter, the auction the DoT is looking to hold in March, will only draw a few bids from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) for renewing their frequencies.
The DoT is planning to hold the spectrum sale in March as the permits of Bharti Airtel and Vi will expire in 2024 in some of India’s geographic circles. Airtel’s airwave renewals this year are in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands in the circles of J&K, Odisha, Bihar, UP-East, West Bengal and Assam. Vi faces spectrum renewals in West Bengal (900 MHz and 1800 MHz) and UP-West (900 MHz).
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Earlier this month, the DoT confirmed it will not auction the 600 MHz band in the upcoming spectrum auction, as the body aims to conduct more studies to ensure there is no interference with satellite operations.
According to local newspaper The Economic Times, an official said that India wanted to be part of the countries offering IMT in 600 MHz, but that this was opposed by China.
The 600 MHz spectrum band was put on sale in the last auction in August 2022, but it remained unsold.
India completed its first 5G spectrum auction in July 2022. Reliance Jio walked away with the most spectrum, having spent $11 billion. Airtel won spectrum worth $5.4 billion, while Vodafone received spectrum worth $2.4 billion. Finally, Adani purchased spectrum worth approximately $27 million, which it will use to offer private 5G network services.
Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm are currently providing 5G connectivity in thousands of towns and cities across India, while the government previously confirmed that state-run telco BSNL will be in a position to launch 5G in 2024. In June, Vodafone Idea had confirmed “advanced talks” with a number of vendors in order to define its final strategy for the deployment of 5G in India.