The parliament was informed that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has asked the government to almost double its spectrum allocation in the auctioned 5G frequency bands and provide it frequency in the premium band of 700 megahertz.
To this end, Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications noted that as part of the Cabinet’s decision on the spectrum auctions held in July 2022, the government has reserved 10 MHz of paired spectrum in the 600 MHz band, 40 MHz in the 3300 MHz band and 400 MHz in the 26 GHz band in all circles, for providing 5G services by BSNL.
Meanwhile, the parliament was also informed that the operator has requested for reservation of 10 MHz of paired spectrum in the 700 MHz in lieu of the already reserved 10 MHz in the 600 MHz band and an additional 30 MHz and 400 MHz of spectrum in the 3300 MHz band and 26 GHz band respectively in all licence service areas (LSAs).
At present, Reliance Jio is the only telecom operator that has acquired 10 MHz of pan-India frequencies for about Rs 390 billion. Chauhan further mentioned that BSNL has asked Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to offer equipment for 5G testing so as to enable the telecom firm to start the trials for 5G services.
