With debt-laden operators threatening to boycott the 5G auctions, and then the impact of Covid-19, India’s regulator has finally bowed to the inevitable and postponed the sale of 5G spectrum until next year.
Regulator TRAI still plans to conduct a major auction before October this year, but this will be for additional airwaves targeted at 4G, and will exclude the 3.3-3.6 GHz 5G bands that were supposed to be included. The operators, especially Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, had called for the 5G auction to be delayed as they struggle with heavy fines, strong competitive challenges from Reliance Jio, and the need to monetize their 4G networks in full before embarking on 5G.
Not that the 4G airwaves will come cheaply. TRAI will sell a total of 800 MHz of spectrum in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 1.2 GHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands. Those could be worth INR3 trillion ($39.5bn), and while Airtel and Vodafone had threatened to boycott an early 5G process, they will not be in a position to do that in 4G, since they hold licences which are coming up for renewal in several key operating circles.
However, both of these operators, and newcomer Jio too, have demanded that the government reduce the reserve price for the spectrum.