The telecom sector has urged the government to come out with a clear and transparent policy on different issues relating to spectrum such as availability, auction and pricing.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the GSMA organised a webinar on the roles that spectrum slicing, trading and availability of free radiowaves play to manage the networks during emergencies.

“There is a greater need today for a transparent and judicious spectrum policy, especially in a country like India. The world has realised the importance of a robust telecom infrastructure and India still needs vast investments in its telecom infrastructure to be ready for the future digital economy,” Manoj Misra, senior public policy director at GSMA India said in a release.

London-based GSMA represents as many as 800 telecom carriers worldwide.

With 5G on the horizon, Misra said India is at a crucial point where a clear, predictable and economically viable policy would help in sustainable investments to come in and provide a boost to the evolution and development of the next level of the technology revolution in the country.

Fundamental need

“Spectrum is the equivalent to cement and iron for us. The current pandemic has effectively put forth the importance of a robust network required to run an economy digitally. Spectrum is the fundamental ingredient of telecom infrastructure and a key essential of a connected society," Rajan S. Mathews, director-general of COAI, said.

“It’s now the foremost duty of all stakeholders to understand the critical role of spectrum and frame policies and implement accordingly,” Mathews said and added that the issues of availability of required spectrum to run digital networks seamlessly and the pricing, which is one of the highest in the world, should be discussed.

The sector regulator has recommended the auction of airwaves across eight bands that included 3300-3600MHz for provisioning of next-generation or 5G services.

The incumbent operators such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea termed the 5G spectrum base price of Rs 492 crore per unit as too high.

However, telecom regulator Trai has strongly defended its recommendations on the pricing of spectrum, including 5G airwaves, saying its views had been finalised based on industry feedback, and it is for the individual stakeholders to decide whether to participate in the auction or not.