Airtel, Vodafone-Idea to be limited in 5G auction: Fitch

NEW DELHI: lobal rating agency Fitch on Monday said that a high price tag of $70 million per Mhz is a big deterrent for telcos like Airtel and Vodafone Idea to bid for 5G spectrum auction.

“Fitch believes the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) 5G spectrum price for spectrum band of 3300-3600MHz of $70 million per M Hz is expensive compared with 3G and 4G spectrum auctions in the past,” it said.

“At the current price, each telco will need to commit roughly around $7 billion for a pan-India licence for 100MHz of 5G spectrum. The timing of 5G spectrum auction is uncertain, although we believe that the auction is unlikely to happen in 2019, and may occur only in 2H20 as the Indian government and TRAI may require time to prepare for spectrum auctions.