An official press release on Wednesday said the Union Cabinet had approved a way to auction the 5G spectrum, with 72,097.85 MHz of airwaves to be released at July end. The Cabinet also decided to support the development and establishment of “private exclusive networks” to stimulate a wave of innovation in new-age industry applications such as machine-to-machine communication, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) across the automotive, medical, agricultural, energy and other fields.

“The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Telecommunications Ministry’s proposal to conduct a spectrum auction to allocate spectrum to the winning bidders to provide 5G services to the public and businesses,” the release said.

A total of 72,097.85 MHz spectrum, valid for 20 years, will be auctioned in late July 2022. The auction will target various low-band (600MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz), mid-band (3300MHz) and high-band (26GHz) spectrums.

Continuing telecom sector reforms, Cabinet announced various progressive options for spectrum auctions to facilitate ease of doing business.

“For the first time in history, winning bidders are not required to make mandatory up-front payments. Spectrum payments can be made in 20 equal annual instalments, prepaid at the beginning of each year.

Bidders can choose to relinquish the spectrum after ten years without any future instalment liability for the balance.
“The rollout of 5G services also requires sufficient backhaul spectrum. To meet the backhaul needs, the Cabinet has decided to temporarily allocate 2 E-band 250 MHz carriers to telecom service providers,” it said.

The release said that Cabinet has also decided to double the number of legacy microwave backhaul carriers in the existing 13, 15, 18 and 21GHz bands.

The market is gearing up for the rollout of 5G services, which will usher in ultra-high speeds and unlock a new era of services and business models.

In April, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposed a 39% reduction in the floor price for 5G spectrum sales for mobile services.