Telcos need two more years to participate in 4G auctions

Spectrum of 700 MHz is important for rolling out high-speed mobile broadband services and help operators offer mobile connectivity in rural areas and semi-urban peripheries in the country. And keeping this in mind, the telecom operators are eager to participate in an auction of airwaves in the fourth-generation band.

As per a news report in The Economic Times, industry executives said they wanted time to make their business strategy to play in a fairly new band. They expect the 700 MHz band to be very expensive to buy, further straining the books of telecom operators who are sitting on about Rs 3 lakh crore of debt.


Rajan S Mathews, director-general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) believes that the government should provide a roadmap on the auction and allotment of the 700 MHz band as "now the availability of this band is not known".

A senior DoT official told the Economic Times, the government would sell 700 Mhz airwaves only when operators were ready. Trai had earlier suggested that the frequencies in the range of 698-806 MHz, commonly referred as the 700 MHz band, be auctioned as most of them were lying vacant and had given a 2014-15 as auction timeline expecting the LTE ecosystem to be developed by then. LTE, or longterm evolution, is a 4G technology.

The band plan that India has adopted, the Asia Pacific Telecommunity's 700 MHz band in the frequency division duplex mode, has seen much traction internationally with countries in Africa and Latin America also planning to embrace it. That gives an opportunity for Indian manufactures to produce devices for both the local and overseas markets. But at present, the availability of 4G devices is limited, which is a major challenge to 4G operators.

COAI's Mathews told the ET, operators would be able to use 700 MHz spectrum efficiently only when the ecosystem for it was ready globally.

As per a GSA (Global Mobile Suppliers Association) report, just seven operators have commercially launched LTE services using 700 MHz band spectrum. COAI said it was essential that the 700 MHz band be auctioned only after it was made available for the mobile industry.