SUMMARY
The government will revenues if it will allow the 5G spectrum now: PHD Chamber
The government has allowed Chinese network operators to participate in 5g trials
5G trials are expected to get delayed
Urging the government to delay the 5G spectrum auction for the next three to five years, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), a trade and industry body, said that without the proper valuations of 5G spectrum no decision should be taken.
Sandeep Aggarwal, chairman of the Telecom Committee at PHDCCI, said the government will lose out on revenues if it will allow the 5G spectrum in India now. “The license fees would be frozen for the next 20 years and the government will lose money,” he added.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Telecom Summit 2020, Aggarwal added that besides the government, the network operator will lose out money as they will be able to monetise the bandwidth only after a few years.
Aggarwal further said that the government should consider a free usage of 5G bandwidth by the operators for the next three years after the auction. Highlighting the present economic slowdown, he also said that the government should keep the price of the 5G waves reasonable.
Moreover, as the telecom operators in the country have already invested billions of dollars in previous technologies, the chairman of PHDCCI suggested the government to form a Telecom Finance Corporation to provide loans to the companies, which will be investing in 5G technology.
5G Trials To Get Delayed
Though the government is looking to conduct the auction for the 5G spectrum later this year, it has already created a buzz with the upcoming trials of this new-age technology.
While there have been certain concerns about allowing Chinese network operators to participate in these trials, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has previously said that the government is allowing all stakeholders to show use-cases of 5G in India, including Huawei and ZTE.
However, the department of telecommunications (DoT) is going to evaluate security vulnerabilities associated with the upcoming 5G trails. The analysis will help the department to make the final list of companies joining India in the 5G technology deployment, which might exclude these Chinese companies.
Also, the 5G trials might get delayed further as telecom companies such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone India are planning to seek an extension on the deadline to submit their proposals for the same.
