India's next spectrum auction will begin on May 20. The Department of Telecom has issued a Notice Inviting Document (NIA) regarding this on March 8. DoT does not expect a very good response from the telecom operators in the auction this time.
This is because last year itself companies had purchased a lot of spectrum. The focus of the companies will be on topup of the spectrum which is in their operation and is about to expire. The telecom department is expected to get around Rs 10,000 crore from the auction.
All available spectrum in 800, 900, 1,800, 2,100, 2,300, 2,500, 3,300 MHz and 26 GHz bands will be put in the auction at a base price of Rs 96,317.65 crore.
In this auction, apart from the spectrum held by some companies going through bankruptcy, the spectrum which is expiring on completion of the period in 2024 will also be kept.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will renew their old licenses in the 1,800 MHz and 900 MHz 4G bands.
According to brokerage Jefferies, Airtel will have to renew airwaves worth about Rs 4,200 crore and Vodafone Idea about Rs 1,950 crore, while market leader Reliance Jio will not have to renew any spectrum this year.
In the 2022 spectrum auction, the government was offered 72,097.85 MHz spectrum with a validity of 20 years.
Reliance Jio had spent Rs 88,078 crore on 5G spectrum. After this, Airtel spent Rs 43,084 crore and Vodafone Idea spent Rs 18,799 crore.
Airwaves are radio frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum that can carry information wirelessly for many services, including telecommunications.
The government manages and allocates these airwaves. The spectrum can be divided into bands ranging from low frequency to high frequency.
High-frequency waves carry more data and are faster than low-frequency waves, but they can be easily blocked or obstructed. Lower-frequency waves can provide wider coverage.
