DoT Need to Commence 5G Spectrum Auction in India at the Earliest: Tech Mahindra

The Department of Telecom need to commence the auction of 5G spectrum in India as the regulators in some countries have already formulated policies and initiated spectrum auctions for the 5G rollout in their respective nations, a senior official of the IT giant Tech Mahindra has said. Manish Vyas, President of Communications Business and Chief Executive Officer of Network Services, Tech Mahindra said 4G is yet to touch all parts of the country, and while that happens on a massive scale, there are some “definite green-shoots” of 5G trials.

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More than technology, however, the bigger impediment could be the regulatory body’s policy on the 5G spectrum. The experimental license by DoT will need modifications, and till that happens, the sector is in for a “waiting game,” he said.

“US, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and more (have started 5G spectrum auctions). Spectrum is the lifeblood of any wireless network. For 5G, globally regulators have been licensing mid-band (3.5GHz) and in some countries mmWave (millimetre Wave) spectrum bands as well.

For 5G to be rolled out in India, the first necessary step is for the regulator to auction the 5G spectrum.

Everything else will be gated on the spectrum,” he told PTI in an email.

India’s largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd recently said the auction of the 5G spectrum should not be held before 2020 as the industry needs time to develop India-specific use cases for the next-generation technology.

A DoT official in December last year said the government expects to complete processes for 5G spectrum auction by August 2019.