The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is soon going to meet relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The purpose of this meeting would be to sort out the final details on the 5G spectrum. All of the above-mentioned ministries and organisations hold some part of the airwaves that the telcos would want for rolling out 5G services.
The goal is to Hold 5G Spectrum Auctions as Fast as Possible
According to The Indian Express, officials aware of the matter said the DoT wants to get done with this formality as soon as possible so that India can proceed with the spectrum auctions as soon as possible.
The goal is to hold the spectrum auctions in the first quarter of FY23. During October in 2021, DoT had written to the MoD for vacating the 100 MHz of spectrum in 3300 MHz - 3400 MHz and asked the defence ministry to use airwaves in the 3000 MHz - 3100 MHz frequency band.
Along with this, the telecom department had requested ISRO to not go for the 26 MHz airwaves so that it could avail at least 3000 MHz of mmWave spectrum for the auctions, which is in line with the recommendations from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
DoT doesn’t want to postpone the spectrum auctions anymore than June 2022. At the earliest, it might happen in March 2022, which seems to be a little impossible. The telecom operators are currently testing their 5G networks and solutions and coming up with new use cases so that they are ready to maximise their revenues with 5G as soon as possible.
The delays in holding the spectrum auctions would mean that the telcos will have to further push the 5G rollout in India. If spectrum auctions take place in the first quarter, we might be able to see the 5G rollout in the second quarter. But there are a lot of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’.
