NEW DELHI: Giving in to the demands of Telecom Service Providers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended cutting the base price of 5G airwaves in 5G spectrum auction.
The regulatory body has recommended to cut the base price of the coveted 700 MHz band by 40% and 3300-3670 MHz band by 36%.
It said all available spectrums in existing bands viz. 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new spectrum bands viz. 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz, be put to auction. For the frequency range 3300-3670 MHz, it said both band plans i.e., n77 and n78 should be permitted and flexibility be given to the telecom operators to adopt any band plan based on their considerations. To provide flexibility to the telecom operators, block size of 10 MHz for 3300-3670 MHz band and 50 MHz for 24.25-28.5 GHz band has been recommended.
The prime 5G frequency of 3300-3670 MHz band, all-India reserve price adds up to Rs 317 crore per MHz and the base price for coveted 700 Mhz band is Rs 3,927 crore per Mhz, which is 40% lower than that proposed last time. Trai said the reserve price of spectrum allocation in the case of 30 years should be equal to 1.5 times the reserve price of spectrum allocation for 20 years for the respective band.
To surrender the spectrum, the regulatory body recommended a surrender fee of Rs 1 lakh per spectrum band per LSA (Licensed Service Area). To facilitate the new entrants, in respect of roll out obligations for 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, the time period of 1 year for meeting the MRO ( Minimum Roll-out Obligations) for Metros LSAs (coverage of 90% of the LSA within one year from the effective date of license or the date of assignment of spectrum won in this auction process, whichever is later), should be enhanced to 2 years (40% coverage by the end of 1st year and 90% coverage by the end of 2nd year).