The industry regulator, as per a new report, is not going to take a relook at the pricing recommendations for the 5G airwaves. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has rejected the plea from the industry as the secretary V Raghunandan informed that there is no such provision under the TRAI Act. He stated that there is no possibility of any price revision and the current norms as per the Trai Act do not permit any price relook.
The Current Scenario
According to a report from ET Telecom, the secretary stated that TRAI has submitted its recommendations and it is for the telecom department (DoT) to look into the matter including pricing and take a decision accordingly. He further informed that TRAI has invited telecom service providers to further engage and discuss their concerns since the views expressed by industry representatives during the extensive consultative process had already been incorporated while arriving at the pricing recommendations.
For those unaware, TRAI released its much-awaited spectrum pricing recommendations on Monday and proposed to cut the base price of the premium 3.3-3.67 GHz frequency range by nearly 36% to Rs 317 crore a unit and the rate of the coveted 700 MHz spectrum, by 40% to Rs 3,297 crore per MHz. This move from the regulatory body came to encourage telecom operators to bid aggressively in the upcoming 5G airwaves auction.
The telecom industry, however, has had a strong reaction to the regulatory body’s recommendations and has appealed for a revisitation. The leading industry representative body COAI in a statement said that the industry strongly believes there is enough and more headroom available to reduce spectrum prices by 90%, in line with global norms. It added that TRAI must do away with the 1.5 times price multiple for 30 years of spectrum allocation.
Although TRAI has overruled any such pleas as Raghunandan informed that TRAI has done scientific assessment carefully and factored in inputs provided by the industry and arrived at spectrum prices. However, he added that the industry may reassess the recommendations three to four years from now. The leading official stated that reducing the base price by 90% would be “irrational,” and the industry has not provided any argument to back its demand.
