India’s hobbling 5G spectrum auction gait

The next generation mobile technology offers huge opportunities. To reap the benefits of a subscriber boom, telecom operators must be able to buy spectrum bands at competitive rates.

India’s 5G moment is yet to arrive while several countries all over the world have rolled out their next generation mobile networks.

The Asian nation is one of the few major countries without a 5G network, according to Ookla’s 5G network tracker. It accompanies neighbours Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh to stay in the list of countries that has not rolled out 5G yet. Even the financially battered Sri Lanka has a functioning 5G coverage.

The world’s second-largest telecom market is yet to even auction the 5G airwaves, let alone the commercial rollout. Signs of the giant waking up are visible, but it has a long way to go as the country may roll out 5G mobile services only by the end of this year or early 2023.

During this year’s Budget Speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that 5G mobile services would be rolled out within 2022-23. “All leading telecom companies, including Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vi are testing their 5G networks under different trials. The government is also discussing with telcos and other stakeholders on the spectrum auctions that will be undertaken this year,” Sitharaman said.

The telecom regulator detailed its plan to auction around Rs 7.5 lakh crore worth of airwaves across multiple bands. TRAI has planned to auction both existing and new spectrum bands. Existing bands include 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, and new bands are 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz.

The country is also working to scale up its fibre optical coverage by laying additional million kilometres of fibre optic cable. The coverage currently stands at 1.5 million kilometres.

The next generation mobile connectivity is expected to unlock a $450 billion economy and further digitise the country. Last year, global services market for 5G technology was estimated to be $83 billion. That is expected to grow 23% annually to reach $188 billion by 2025.