India?s 5G spectrum auctions will likely be delayed again, a report in Economic Times has suggested. This, according to the report, is because the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that it is likely to submit pricing recommendations only in March. The report cited government officials as saying that if this is the case, 5G auctions will happen sometime in July and not in April-May, as the government had announced earlier.
If there is a delay, the rollout of 5G services may even get pushed into 2023. Telecom providers have said that they will take six months to start offering 5G services in the country after the spectrum is allotted. ?TRAI will submit its final recommendations to the telecom department by March. The auctions in April-May are unlikely and a July timeframe is possible,? an official was quoted in the ET report as saying.
The 5G rollout in India has been delayed previously as well. The government has asked carriers to try and launch 5G services by August 15, at least in some pockets. All telecom providers are currently running trials with vendors to understand India-specific use cases.
However, since the April-May auction timeline looks unlikely, officials say that they are working at a ?record pace? on the pricing spectrum recommendations.
Last month, TRAI kicked off the process of setting starting prices of 10 spectrum bands earmarked by the government for offering 5G services, including for 600Mz and the mmWave frequencies.
The ET report also said that on reference from the DoT, the regulator has sought views on issues such as applicable reserve price, band plan, block size, quantum of spectrum to be auctioned and associated conditions for auction of spectrum in new bands.
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