The government has kickstarted the spectrum auction for telecom services to augment existing telecom services and maintain continuity of services. The auction will see participation from three bidders, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Limited, and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited.
The notice inviting applications (NIA) for the auction was issued on March 8, 2024. In addition, the DoT announced that 5G spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz spectrum bands will go up for bidding in the auction.
Meanwhile, a total of 10,522.35 MHz quantum of spectrum is being auctioned in various bands valuing Rs 962.3845 billion at reserve prices.
Highlights of the spectrum auction include:
- Process of auction– The auction shall be a simultaneous multiple round ascending (SMRA) e-auction.
- Duration of spectrum– Spectrum will be assigned for a period of 20 years.
- Payment– Successful bidders will be allowed to make payment in 20 equal annual instalments, duly protecting the net present value (NPV) at the interest rate of 8.65 per cent.
- Surrender of spectrum– Spectrum acquired through this auction can be surrendered after a minimum period of ten years.
- Spectrum usage charge– There will be no spectrum usage charges (SUC) for spectrum acquired in this auction.
- Bank guarantees– It is not required by the successful bidder to submit a financial bank guarantee (FBG) and performance bank guarantee (PBG).
Further, mock auctions were conducted on June 3, 2024, June 13, 2024, and June 14, 2024 to familiarise the bidders with e-Auction platform. Subsequently, auction catalogue was published on June 24, 2024, to ensure that there is no inaccuracy in the data of bidders. Furthermore, live auction is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM on June 25, 2024.
