Ahead of the next spectrum auction, industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged the government to lower bid prices, saying service providers are yet to recover their large investments in 5G infrastructure. At the recently held COAI Digicom Summit, the COAI director general said the industry expects the government to consider the substantial investment made by telecom operators in 5G, which has yet to yield a return on investment.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in February recommended that the government put the entire 11,790 megahertz (MHz) of available spectrum across frequency bands of 600 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 gigahertz (GHz) up for auction.
Spectrum in lower frequency bands provides wider coverage. The government is exploring auctioning spectrum in the 600 MHz band, which is expected to improve mobile network coverage inside buildings.
The regulator’s recommended base price values the entire spectrum at Rs 2.1 trillion, which is estimated to be 19 per cent cheaper than the prices recommended for the last auction held in 2022.
Further, the director general said that pricing will determine the quantum of spectrum that telecom operators choose to buy.
