The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on “Auction of spectrum in the frequencies identified for international mobile telecommunications (IMT)/5G”
Earlier, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), through its letter, requested TRAI to provide recommendations on “auction of spectrum in the frequencies identified for international mobile telecommunications (IMT)/5G”.
Subsequently, DoT through its letter informed about the government’s telecom reform decisions with regard to future spectrum auctions and requested TRAI to consider the same while providing recommendations.
Accordingly, DoT has, inter-alia, requested TRAI to provide recommendations on the various issues, including applicable reserve price, band plan, block size, quantum of spectrum to be auctioned and associated conditions for auction of spectrum in 526-698 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz bands for IMT/5G; quantum of spectrum or band, if any, that is to be earmarked for private captive or isolated 5G networks, competitive or transparent method of allocation, and pricing, for meeting the spectrum requirements if captive 5G applications of industries for machine and plant automation purposes or machine-to-mobile (M2M) in premises; and associated conditions like upfront payments, applicable moratorium period after upfront payments, number of deferred payment instalments and other related modalities for auction of spectrum with validity for 30 years.
DoT has also sought recommendations for creating provisions for surrender of spectrum, conditions, and fee for such surrender of spectrum. Also, DoT welcomes any other recommendations deemed fit for the purpose of spectrum auction in these frequency bands.
To this end, TRAI has floated consultation paper seeking inputs from the stakeholders. The deadline for submitting written comments and counter-comments is December 28, 2021 and January 11, 2022, respectively.
