India is going to be one step closer to having full 5G rollouts nationwide the government is looking into 5G trials by the end of this fiscal year, according to a report. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has also confirmed that the auction for 5G airwaves will be held in April -March.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed his ambition have nationwide 5G services by 2020. However, telecom companies have expressed their worries for such a timeline due to the time required for auctions, testing and deployment. Earlier this month, news surfaced about the upcoming 5G spectrum auction, giving us information about the possible dates and the recommended price for 5G waves.
The suggested base price for 5G airwaves is Rs. 492 crores per MHz with a proposed minimum sale of 20MHz blocks. The government plans to sell a total of 8,293.95 MHz of 4G and 5G spectrum, which can fetch the government about Rs. 5.86 lakh crore, if all of it is sold at base price. It has also been confirmed that they will sell this all in one go and not in pieces.
Regarding the 5G trials, the telecom department is supposedly reviewing the dozens of submitted applications from companies. The department is still undecided on letting China’s HUAWEI from participating, amid HUAWEI’s ongoing controversies.