Policy initiatives must ensure 5G availability at affordable prices: DoT Official

New Delhi: There is a need to bring in affordable pricing for the fifth-generation (5G) airwaves, besides making adequate airwaves available as part of the Centre's new policy initiatives, a senior Department of Telecommunications (DoT) official said Wednesday, views that echoed the industry’s long standing demands."The policy initiatives required from the government for 5G must include ensuring spectrum availability at affordable prices, lower reserve price, and uniform right-of-way (RoW) policy for fiberisation. Thus, there exists several new opportunities, and the future is bright and exciting," Bharat Kumar Jog, member-services at DoT, said in his address to the India Mobile Congress.He added that the economic value of 5G is estimated to be $13.2 trillion worldwide, and India's share would come close to $1 trillion by 2035.The views from one of the top government officials echoed the concerns of the industry, which has termed the telecom regulator’s base price for 5G spectrum in the 3300-3600 MZ band of Rs 492 crore per unit as too expensive. Operators have also said that the current 5G spectrum quantity on offer—a total of 175 MHz in the 5G band—was too low, and that the industry needs at least 100 MHz per carrier to ensure quality next generation services.Jog’s comments come a day after top executives of Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea called on the government to address challenges such as high spectrum prices and levies, low bandwidth availability and hurdles in RoW clearances for a sector which has ensured robust digital connectivity during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal has repeatedly said that India’s no. 2 telco would not be able to buy any 5G airwaves at the current reserve price.The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), under previous chairman RS Sharma, had rejected the DoT’s request to reduce the base price. The regulator then had put the ball in the government's court, saying the telecom department could review it. The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the highest decision-making body in the DoT, has since approved the prices, and any change can now be made only by the Union Cabinet. The government though hasn’t decided any timeline for the 4G and 5G auctions, though it is widely believed that it is aiming to hold the 4G sale in January-March 2021, and 5G later in the year. The auction proposal is yet to be presented to the Cabinet.

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