Telecom ministry has categorically declined the request of industry to reduce the 5G spectrum prices in the upcoming auctions. Recently, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the 5G spectrum auction will take place by the end of this year or early 2020. In reply to a query from a Lok Sabha member, the minister said that the government is not planning to reduce the base price for the 5G spectrum.
The base price of the 5G spectrum (in 3400 megahertz to 3800 megahertz band) is highest in India. As per brokerage CLSA, the base price per megahertz (MHz) for spectrum in this band is $70 million in India as compared to $26 million in Italy, $18 million in South Korea, $10 million in the UK and $5 million in Australia. Various industry bodies, including Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Broadband India Forum (BIF), have written to the government about high spectrum prices. But their plea seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
Telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has recommended auction of about 8,644 megahertz (MHz) of radio frequencies in nine bands for sale at a base price of Rs 4.93 lakh crore.
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