5G spectrum auction to kick off in India soon; expect 5G services roll out by year end
India Today
5G will first be rolled out to 13 major metro cities in India. A report claims that the first commercial rollout of 5G network could be done by August 15, 2022.
The groundwork for the 5G services has started in India and one can expect the commercial roll out in the coming months. Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications in Gujarat, announced in the Rajya Sabha that the spectrum for conducting trials has already been allotted to respective telecom operators and that the testing will soon be completed.
Once the trials are conducted successfully, the spectrum auctions will take place in India. A recent ET Now report claimed that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is expecting the auction to get completed within the next two months. This suggests that the 5G services will be rolled out this year on a pilot basis.
Of course, the 5G services won’t be initially available to everyone. 5G will first be rolled out to 13 major metro cities in India. The report claimed that the first commercial rollout of 5G network could be done by August 15, 2022. But, don’t get your hopes too high as the auction has been delayed several times in the past. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her budget speech in February this year asserted that 5G spectrum auction will take place in the coming months and the rollout will start this year.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also believes that the 5G rollout will kick off in India by August or September. 5G services will be launched in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Gurugram, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Jamnagar, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, and Gandhinagar. It will be expanded to more cities by next year.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently revealed that it has plans to value airwaves (across multiple bands) in the auction for around Rs 7.5 Lakh crore. TRAI will reportedly put all the existing 5G bands such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz in the auction. It is also said to include the new spectrum bands, including 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz in the auction.
