India Auctions Spectrum for IMT/5G Telecom Services
Article By : PIB India
India's Department of Telecom has initiated spectrum auction to facilitate 5G roll-out and augment existing telecom services in the country.
With considerable success in rolling out widespread 4G services, India is now ready to introduce 5G telecom services in the country. To facilitate roll-out of 5G and to augment existing telecom services, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has initiated the spectrum auction and Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) has been issued on June 15, 2022.
The spectrum being auctioned includes all the available spectrum in 600MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz, 2500MHz, 3300MHz, and 26GHz bands. The spectrum allotted through this auction can be used for 5G (IMT-2020) or any other technology within the scope of Access Service License.
A total of 72097.85MHz of spectrum has been put to auction. It will be assigned for a period of twenty (20) years.
Successful bidders will be allowed to make payment in 20 equal annual installments, duly protecting the NPV at the interest rate of 7.2%. Spectrum acquired through this auction can be surrendered after a minimum period of ten years. Also, licensees can set up isolated captive non-public network(s) for industries using the spectrum acquired through this auction.
Further details of spectrum auction including, inter-alia, reserve price, pre-qualification conditions, Earnest Money Deposit (EMD), Auction Rules, and other terms and conditions on the above are specified in NIA, which can be accessed on the DoT website at https://dot.gov.in/spectrum-management/2886.