NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Telecom regulator TRAI expects to start the consultation process for the next round of spectrum auction in about a fortnight.
“We expect to issue it (consultation paper on spectrum price) in about 15 days,” Trai Chairman R S Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of FTTH APAC Conference here.
He was responding to a query on when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will start the consultation process for the next round of spectrum auction.
The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sought Trai’s views on spectrum price for various frequencies, including premium airwaves in the 700 MHz band which remained unsold in the last auctions in October 2016.
In the last auctions, government had kept airwaves worth Rs 5.66 lakh crore for sale.
In the five-day auction, seven telecom companies made commitments of Rs 65,789 crore for buying 964.80 MHz of spectrum in various frequency bands.
Bids were received for 964.80 MHz of spectrum out of 2,354.55 MHz across seven bands put on offer. Even at the end of the auction, nearly 60 per cent of the spectrum remained unsold and spectrum worth Rs 4 lakh crore in 700 Mhz band found no takers.
Meanwhile, the industry today pitched for holding the auctions late next year or early 2019 in view of the sector’s weak financials and the still-nascent equipment ecosystem for the prized 700 MHz band.
“The timing of the auction should be later part of 2018 or early 2019,” COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said.
The DoT has also sought Trai’s views on 5G services.
Sharma said the consultation process generally takes six months.
“Generally, it takes six months’ time to complete the whole process. You can expect recommendation around the same time,” Sharma said.
In his speech at the event, Sharma said Trai is propagating sharing of backend infrastructure to achieve goals of ‘Digita India’.
“We are of the firm view that sharing at the backend will in no way dilute competition in the front end. Sharing will be required for smart cities and all the components of smart cities,” Sharma said.
He said there is lot of traction in the government over the idea to allow cable TV operators to provide broadband services as there are 100 million cable TV homes covering about 40 per cent of total population in the country. (PTI)
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