TRAI also claimed that it is up to the DoT to decide on the validity period of the auctioned spectrum
TRAI also claimed that it is up to the DoT to decide on the validity period of the auctioned spectrum
TRAI said on Monday it was up to the telecoms department to decide whether to allocate or auction the 27.5-28.5 GHz spectrum range for IMT/5G services, as regulators on various auction-related issues where they made recommendations had given up, stood firm recently.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also defended its views on separate band-specific minimum rollout obligations it has mandated for the 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-27.5 GHz bands.
Regarding the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) view that the minimum deployment commitments should apply to the 3300-3670 MHz band and the 24.25-27.5 GHz bands combined, TRAI argued that these bands should not be bundled , but will be auctioned separately.
“The technical characteristics of these two bands are very different, and the use cases likely to be deployed using these frequency bands are also likely to be different,” TRAI said in its response to the DoT’s back reference on spectrum auction-related questions.
“To impose combined rollout conditions on a TSP (telecommunications service provider) that acquires spectrum in one of these bands is not justified. In addition, combined minimum rollout obligations may also open doors for spectrum hoarding in any of these frequency bands, leading to under-exploitation of valuable natural resources, namely spectrum,” TRAI said.
The whole aim of imposing a roll-out obligation is to ensure that spectrum is used as early as possible and there are benefits from offering services to meet subscriber needs, leading to overall economic growth in the country, TRAI said .
TRAI said it made its recommendations for all frequency bands (which DoT previously referenced) including the 27.5-28.5 GHz frequency range as part of the 24.25-28.5 GHz band for IMT/5G.
“Coexistence of the satellite earth station gateway (Earth to space) with IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) has also been recommended in the 27.5-28.5 GHz frequency band,” TRAI said.
“However, it is up to the DoT to decide whether to allocate/auction the 27.5-28.5 GHz band for IMT/5G,” TRAI said.
TRAI has also claimed that it is up to the DoT to decide the period of validity of the auctioned spectrum.
TRAI respected the government’s decision, communicated in the DoT letter, to extend the duration of the spectrum assignment to 30 years (from the previous 20 years) for future auctions.
“With due regard to this government decision, the Authority, after analyzing the relevant factors, recommended … that the reserve price for spectrum allocation in the case of 30 years should be equal to 1.5 times (one and a half times) the reserve price for spectrum allocation for 20 years for the respective band,” said TRAI.
“However, it is up to the DoT to decide on the validity period of the frequency assignment through the auction,” the regulator wrote.
Regarding the private captive network, TRAI said while one of the options requires a needs assessment (in relation to enterprises that receive the spectrum directly from DoT to build their own isolated captive wireless private network), “for enterprises, this is not necessary”. lease spectrum from operators and build their own isolated captive wireless private network.
“In addition, the third option of spectrum leasing is essential to meet the demand for private networks. The leasing option can now be implemented by yourself,” said TRAI.
