NEW DELHI: Government has planned to conduct an auction of 5G in 2022, informed the minister of state for communications Devusinh Chauhan in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The minister said the Department of Telecommunication has allotted 5G spectrums to four Telecom Services Providers (TSPs) to conduct 5G trials in the country.
“Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) are conducting 5G trials in Delhi, Mumbai, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Gurgaon, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Pune, and Varanasi including urban, semi-urban, and rural areas. It is the prerogative of TSPs to launch 5G service in different cities as per their business/network plans,” said the minister.
The minister further mentioned that the Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent a reference to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 13 September 2021, seeking recommendations on the auction of spectrum in frequency bands identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)/5G.
The regulatory body is expected to send recommendations to DoT before 31 March 2022. Once it sends its recommendation, the government will initiate the 5G spectrum auction process.
“A Committee of Secretaries (CoS) including Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Department of Space, discussed spectrum allocation among various user Ministries/Departments in the context of spectrum needs of emerging technologies/users (5G/IMT) and recommended the spectrum allocation in relevant key bands,” informed the minister.
On 4G services for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), the minister informed it would begin its 4G services this year. The minister said that a “great revolution” has taken place in the telecom sector over the last seven years and that data consumption has soared while tariffs are at the lowest.