Next spectrum auction to have same reserve price as in 2022
New Delhi: The department of telecommunications (DoT) intends to hold the next spectrum auctions within the ongoing financial year or latest by early next financial year, at the same reserve prices as the 2022 auctions for existing spectrum bands, a senior official said. “The Union cabinet had decided that there has to be auction every year.
We sent our proposal to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) seeking the recommendation for the next auction. They said that DoT already has the original price, terms and conditions, eligibility criteria for the legacy bands, so you go ahead with all those conditions and immediately conduct the auctions," Gulab Chand, joint wireless adviser, WPC Wing of the DoT said at an event on Thursday.
He added that the TRAI had given this clarity to the department, but for auctioning the new Q & V bands, the regulator has sought more time for recommending availability and reserve pricing. Some carriers may have to renew spectrum holdings of their existing bands, making up a total of 10 bands for the auction.
The bands include 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3400 MHz and 26GHz frequencies. “It’s our plan to hold the next auctions before the end of this fiscal basically because many of the locations in the lower bands are expiring so operators might be willing to retake it, so we must give them opportunity to not to lose out on an already established ecosystem in that band," he added.
“We’re trying very hard to hold auctions, if not within this fiscal then maybe just the beginning of the next fiscal," he said. The reserve price for the next auction will be based on previous Trai recommendation of 2022, clarified V Raghunandan, secretary at Trai,
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