The government of India said that the base price for the new spectrum will be set at INR963 billion ($11.6 billion)
The Indian government has officially approved the auction of 10,523 megahertz of spectrum in multiple bands, including frequencies for 5G, local press reported, citing the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur.
According to the report, India will auction spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz bands.
“Additional spectrum will improve the quality of telecom services and coverage for the consumers,” the government said in a statement, following the cabinet meeting in which the spectrum auction was approved.
The base price for the spectrum will be set at INR963 billion ($11.6 billion). Spectrum will be offered for assignment for a validity period of 20 years, according to the reports.
The reports also highlighted that the pricier 600 MHz and 700 MHz bands have not been made part of the incoming spectrum auction.
The government has also decided to assign five megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz frequency band for regional and urban rail-based transit systems.
According to previous reports, the spectrum auction will only draw a few bids from local operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) for renewing their frequencies, 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).
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.
Reliance Jio completed its 5G rollout at the end of last year, while Bharti Airtel is expected to fully complete its 5G deployment in March this year. The government previously confirmed that state-run telco BSNL will be in a position to launch 5G in 2024. Vodafone Idea expects to launch its 5G service within the next six to seven months, according to recent reports. 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.