The Indian government wants to raise ₹6 trillion from the largest 5g spectrum auction ever

• In its largest ever spectrum auction, govt plans to spend ₹6 trillion.
  

• 100 times faster than 4G, India moving towards universal internet access.
  

• Nearly, 8600 MHz of mobile airwaves likely to be auctioned.

India is set to conduct a spectrum auction for the 5G and other radio waves in 2019.

The time limit to start 5G trials is set at 100 days, where nearly 8600 MHz of mobile airwaves are likely to be auctioned, the new Telecom minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said on June 3, 2019, NDTV reported.

At an estimated value of ₹6 trillion, the telecom auction is expected to be India’s largest ever.

The plan for the auction was reportedly approved by the Digital Communications Commission (BCC).

Aruna Sundararajan, Telecom secretary and DCC chairperson told TOI that even if all the spectrum is sold at reverse price, the government will net at least ₹5.8 trillion.

However, the telecom secretary said, the government is focusing not on maximizing revenue, but to ensure that telecom services become more inclusive.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has already suggested reserve prices for the new round of auctions.

The government is also trying to ensure that apart from the regular telecom operators (Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea) and equipment providers such as Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung, a wide spectrum of participants take part in the auctions.

Rural India to run on 5G

In order to ensure spread of digital services and 5G in rural areas, the government is also looking at possibilities of public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The digital services initiative of the central government in rural areas has also brought under the new plan’s ambit, as it was decided that the over 300,000 common service centres (CSC’s) will provide at least two wifi hotspots in 100,000 gram panchayats and high speed internet to nearby development institutes.

The government has also decided to use the telecom fibre, that was laid across India, under the Bharat net Programme, to provide internet at homes through fibre-to-the-home initiative.

The fibre is also to be used to connect towers to have more data and voice carrying capacity. As per media reports.