5G spectrum auction by year-end or early 2020, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

Union telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said the 5G spectrum auction will be conducted this year-end or early next year. “The communications policy is already in place, and by the end of the year or the beginning of the next year, we propose to go for auction of spectrum. We are very sure that India’s auction of spectrum will be done in fair and transparent manner,” he said at an event here.

Initially, in June, the Department of Telecom, outlined plans to hold the next spectrum sale first since 2016 by December 2019. Under the scheme, the government plans to auction around 8,293.95 MHz of airwaves at an estimated total base price of Rs 5.86 lakh crore. The DoT has suggested a base price for 5G airwaves at Rs 492 crore per MHz and proposed a sale of a minimum 20 MHz blocks, which would mean a telco spending close to Rs 10,000 crore for 20 MHz, and Rs 50,000 crore for 100 MHz.