Panel of secretaries to take up 5G spectrum pricing this week

An empowered group of secretaries of the Central authorities is more likely to meet once more this week to deliberate on the problem of excessive pricing of spectrum, sources within the know of the event stated.
The assembly might happen earlier than the month-to-month assembly of the Digital Communications Commission, the apex determination making physique of the telecom ministry.
“Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) is also conducting meetings on various issues of 5G spectrum including on pricing and whether the spectrum can be offered as a bundle. All the three players (Vi, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel) have made submissions on why the prices are too high. A final decision might be taken by January-end,” a supply stated, asking to not be recognized.

One of the options, made by the gamers in addition to the business affiliation, was to chop down the reserve costs “by at least 50-60 per cent” to convey it to life like ranges, provided that “a large quantity of spectrum in the recent 4G auction” had remained unsold.
“That auction had come on the back of a judgment which burdened two players. They did not have that financial freedom then. With 5G, it is not an extension of the old technology. It is completely new and will require that level of commitment. So, we will see what best can be done,” one of many sources stated.

Earlier, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had stated 5G spectrum auctions may occur within the second quarter of calender yr 2022.
“A reference has been made to Trai for 5G spectrum auctions. They have already started the consultation process. The process should end somewhere in the February-March time frame in the coming year. Then the auction process will be in Q2 of calendar year 2022,” the Minister had stated.
In 2018, Trai had really useful the bottom worth of 5G spectrum at Rs 492 crore per MHz of spectrum within the 3,300-3,600MHz bands, that are thought of superb for 5G telecom companies owing to their latency.