TelecomLive April 2024

Auction: Spectrum worth Rs 96,318 cr TelecomLIVE April 2024 40 www.telecomlive.com Table-1: Spectrum Auction bands Band Mode Uplink (MHz) Downlink (MHz) 800 MHz Paired 824-844 869-889 900 MHz Paired 890-915 935-960 1800 MHz Paired 1710-1780 1805-1875 2100 MHz Paired 1939-1979 2129-2169 2300 MHz Unpaired 2300-2380 2500 MHz Unpaired 2535-2555 and 2635-2655 3300 MHz Unpaired 3300 -3670 26 GHz Unpaired 24250 -27500 the highest, followed by Mumbai, with Kolkata coming at a distant third. The reserve prices of usually sought-after spectrumbands in key telecom circles (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata) have not been increased by the government. For the 800 MHz band, Delhi has a reserve price of Rs 479 crore per MHz, followed byMumbai (Rs 468 crore) and Kolkata (Rs 153 crore). This was the same in 2022. Similarly, for the 900 MHz band, Delhi (Rs 436 crore), Mumbai (Rs 389 crore) and Kolkata (Rs 153 crore) have the same reserve prices as the preced- ing auction. However, the reserve price in the 2,100 MHz band in Delhi has been increased be 12 pc to Rs 251 crore, up from Rs 224 crore, the prices for Mumbai (Rs 196 crore) and Kolkata (Rs 80 crore) have remained the same. There has been no change in reserve prices in the 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz bands aswell. In the last round of oT has come out with a D spectrum auction sale of 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands (see table-1) worth Rs 96,318 crores. The NIA for the auction was released on March 8, 2024 with auction to begin from June 6, 2024 which was earlier scheduled forMay 20, 2024. Schedule of auction has been given in table-2. Also, spectrum under auction and its circle wise pricing is laid out in tables 3a&3b. The base or reserve prices after the increase are Rs 355 crore (12 pc more) per unit for the 3.3 GHz band, Rs 7.61 crore (9 pc more) per unit for the 26 GHz band and Rs 2,337 crore (10.4 pc more) per unit for the 1,800 MHz band. Also, reserve price for the Delhi circle is Auction Spectrum worth Rs 96,318 cr on table