Niti Aayog has urged that 5G spectrum should be given to telecom operators for a 30-year period. Meanwhile, Niti Aayog has also suggested that the reserve price should be calculated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a 20-year period. This way, the reduction in the reserve price works out to be 36 per cent as compared to the regulator’s recommendation in 2018.
Since the government had decided last year in September to give spectrum for a 30-year period, Niti Aayog believes there’s no rationale behind calculating a price for 20 years and then adding multiples to it. Meanwhile, the operators need to fork out Rs 372.92 billion for the minimum quantum of spectrum for a 5G network as per the reserve price worked out by TRAI for a 20-year period. Further, if the operators are charged 1.5 times of this for a 30-year period, this goes up to Rs 559.38 billion.
In a nutshell, Niti Aayog is of the opinion that the reduction in the reserve price gets nullified by adding the multiple. To resolve the issue, a DoT committee has suggested that operators be given a choice to buy spectrum for either 20 or 30 years. Meanwhile, on their part, the operators have sought a reduction in prices by around 90-95 per cent.
