New Delhi, March 25 : The government will conduct an auction of 5G this year, Union Minister of State for Communication Devusinh Chauhan said on Friday. The Minister said this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
“A Committee of Secretaries including Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence and Department of Space discussed spectrum allocation among various user Ministries/Departments in the context of spectrum needs of emerging technologies/users (5G/IMT) and recommended the spectrum allocation in relevant key bands,” he said. Accordingly, the Department of Telecommunications sent a reference to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in September 2021, seeking recommendations on auction of spectrum in frequency bands identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)/5G.
According to the official statement, the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) are conducting 5G trials in Delhi, Mumbai, Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Gurgaon, Gandhinagar, Chandigarh, Pune and Varanasi including urban, semi-urban and rural areas. “It is the prerogative of TSPs to launch 5G service in different cities as per their business/network plans,” it said.
With agency inputs
