The telecom department has allotted spectrum for six months to the telecom players for 5G trials even as there is little clarity on spectrum pricing and whether the 26Ghz millimeter wave (mmWave) band, which the operators have been pitching for would be put out on auction.

The trials will be conducted at various locations including Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore, Gujarat and Hyderabad. The trials will be spread across six months, including 2 months to procure and set up the equipment.

“Telecom operators have been allocated spectrum in the 700 Mhz band, 3.3-3.6 gigahertz (Ghz) band and 24.25-28.5 Ghz band across various locations,” a telecom company official said.

On May 4, the department of telecommunications (DoT) had approved applications from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL for the trials without using technologies from Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE.

The DoT had approved the trials with equipment from Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and India's Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT). Reliance Jio will use its own technology.

According to the DoT, 5G technology is expected to deliver ten times faster download speed than 4G and up to three times greater spectrum efficiency.

“We hope the government will also look into the industry's call for revisiting the 5G spectrum pricing,” S.P.Kochhar, director-general, Cellular Operators Association of India, said.

The operators are pressing DoT to move Trai for reserve prices across all spectrum bands cleared for 5G trials, including the 26Ghz and the 3.3-3.6 Ghz bands.

In 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had set the reserve price for the 5G spectrum in the 3,300-3,600Mhz bands (or 3.3-3.6Ghz band) at Rs 492 crore per Mhz. The suggestions were accepted by the Digital Communications Commission, the highest decision-making authority at the DoT, in the following year. The band has not been put up for auctions.