Trai starts process for next round of spectrum auction, including 5G

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday released a consultation paper for next round of spectrum auction which may include bands for fifth generation (5G) services.

The auction across nine bands includes 60% of the spectrum left unsold in the last auction as well as 275 megahertz (Mhz) of two new bands – 3300-3400 Mhz and 3400-3600 Mhz meant for 5G services.

Trai has sought opinion on when the next round of auction should be held and whether it should be done in a "phased manner".

"The government is planning to auction the right to use of spectrum in 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3400 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz bands in the next auction to be held in 2017," Trai said in the consultation paper.

"The key issues raised are quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, optimal block size, duplexing scheme, spectrum cap, roll-out conditions and methods to be used for valuation and estimation of reserve price of spectrum," the consultation paper said.

"DoT (Department of Telecom) has requested the authority to provide its recommendations on applicable reserve price, quantum of spectrum to be auctioned and associated conditions for auction of spectrum in these bands for all service areas," the paper said.

In the proposed spectrum auction, DoT plans to sell about 60% of total spectrum that remained unsold in the last auction. In addition, DoT has included two more bands—3300-3400 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz—it plans to allocate for mobile services through the auction.

"DoT has proposed to include 100 MHz in all the 22 LSAs (licensed telecom circles) in the 3300-3400 MHz band for the forthcoming auction for access services," the paper said.

Trai said that out of the 200 MHz available in 3400-3600 Mhz band, 25 MHz spectrum (3400-3425 MHz) is identified for ISRO's use in Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

"The remaining 175 MHz (3425-3600 MHz) spectrum is available for access services and the same can be put in the forthcoming auction," it said.

During the last auction, the government had put airwaves worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for sale. In the five-day auction, seven telecom companies made commitments of Rs 65,789 crore for buying 964.80 MHz of spectrum in various frequency bands. Even at the end of the auction, nearly 60% of the spectrum remained unsold (in all, 2,354.55 MHz was placed on the block) and spectrum worth Rs 4 lakh crore in 700 Mhz band found no takers.

Telecom players have been under tremendous financial stress. The margins have declined after entry of a new player Reliance Jio.

The last date for comments on this paper is September 25, and that of counter-comments is October 3, 2017.

In a recent interview to DNA Money, Trai chairman R S Sharma had said, "New technologies are more spectrum-efficient and robust, which ensures that scarce resources like spectrum are efficiently utilised. 5G technology standards are getting finalised in ITU/3GPP (International Telecommunication Union/3rd Generation Partnership Project) and ecosystem is evolving. Certain advanced nations have started setting up 5G networks on a trial basis.

A major impetus on 5G will come after World Radio Conference (WRC-19) where the standards and protocols under development will get finalised and then harmonised. Once standards and spectrum bands are finalised, we can expect 5G networks getting deployed in India. Since the technology is evolving in such a way that it can support backward compatibility with the existing technologies, all the technologies will co-exist in at least for few years to come."

Money call

In the proposed spectrum auction, DoT plans to sell about 60% of total spectrum that remained unsold in the last auction
DoT has included two more bands—3300-3400 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz—it plans to allocate for mobile services through the auction