5G India Forum, under COAI, that is concerned with driving the 5G ecosystem, suggests that 5G spectrum prices should be affordable to increase its adoption
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AJ Paulraj, Chairman, 5G India Forum, said that the government of India should make 5G spectrum prices as cheap as possible considering the country’s high value for the high-speed network. While talking to ET, the head added that India would lose around Rs 20 lakh crores if the government sold the spectrum at higher rates as higher prices would mean lesser adoption.
Spectrum in India
India is planning for a spectrum auction of around 8,293 Mhz units including frequencies in the 3300-3600 Mhz band range for 5G services. Earlier, in August, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended 5G spectrum price at Rs 492 crore per unit in 20 MHz block size. The state-run 5G group had suggested an immediate allocation of 405 Mhz of sub 4GHz spectrum.
According to the 5G Forum chairman, the cost should be kept at lower prices due to its availability and the department of telecom (DoT) had planned to issue new bands in the 4GHz range.
5G India Forum
The 5G India Forum, a collaborative association under the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), is concerned with the private and public stakeholders in the rollout of 5G in India. It is currently making some improvement in the 5G regulations in compliance with the demand by telecom operators.
It has also backed the providers with the support to raise financial support for backhaul deployments, site acquisition, and civil works and related operational costs.
Paulraj says that it is important for the current government should invest and promote the 5G application as it is believed to boost growth in the country. Telecom majors such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Jio, BSNL, Huawei, Samsung, Nokia and Ericsson are currently engaged with field trials and rolling out 5G ecosystem in India by early 2019.
