The Largest Ever Spectrum Sale: To Be Held In September

BENGALURU: The Indian government is all set to open the most awaited opportunity for telecom service providers on 29^th September, 2016. Telecom Secretary, J. S. Deepak, has already made public the ‘Notice Inviting Applications (NIAs)’ for telecom service providers to bid for Spectrum sale-reports Times of India.

According to records of previous financial year, the auction then witnessed the sale of Spectrum for about 1.1 Lakh Crore. The current government is however expecting to make 5.6 Lakh Crore from the sale and it will be the country’s biggest Spectrum sale till date. In this Spectrum sale, mobile frequencies will be available across seven different bands for sale to limit call drops and poor broadband speeds. The government expects to improve the quality of country’s telecom services by providing frequency options for mobile devices.

The Telecom Secretary further furnished that 2,355 MHz of spectrum will be auctioned and the frequencies will be sold at the reserved price. The 770 MHz of spectrum will be auctioned at 11,500 Crore per megahertz reserve price across India. The government is also expecting a great demand for 700-MHz band during auction. According to Rajan Mathews, Director General, COAI, “The 700-MHz band is overpriced and we don't see much action in this frequency. Also, to ensure better services, we face issues such as right of way for laying cables and installation of telecom towers.”

By lowering Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) to 3 percent from 5 percent, the Indian government is expecting huge initiatives from telecom service providers. Secretary of Telecom further explained that once due payments are received, successful bidder will be dispensed with the Spectrum. The lock-in period of equity for the successful bidder is limited to one year compared to previous norms. “Also, the spectrum surrendered has been included in the calculation of spectrum cap apart from the spectrum put to auction and assigned spectrum,” Secretary of Telecom further added. 

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