5G in India: DoT asks Trai to reconsider reserve price for auction of spectrum

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to reconsider the reserve price for auction of 5G spectrum as the industry has expressed its inability to buy airwaves at such high costs. For the 5G band in the 3300-3600 Mhz, the Trai has recommended a reserve price of Rs 492 crore per Mhz, for a pan India minimum block of 20 Mhz, which means operators will have to shell out Rs 9,840 crore, which is seen as steep.

Going by global standards the price of Rs 492 crore per Mhz for 5G spectrum is on the higher side as the South Korean auctions which was happened just a month back had the price at Rs 130 crore per Mhz.