5G spectrum auction to kick off as per desired timeline: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw has reaffirmed that the auction for the 5G spectrum auction is likely to take place th8s year. He made the assertion when there was a slight delay by telecom regulator Trai on providing recommendations on 'spectrum pricing' and other 'nuances'. 

5G is the fifth-generation standard for wireless communications technologies supporting cellular data networks. On that note, Trai’s recommendations before the spectrum auction are indispensable as they are known to serve as the ‘building blocks’ for seamless implementation of next-generation technologies.

Earlier in February 9, the minister had revealed that India's 5G network development is in final stage and will be ready to rollout this year.

While speaking at the second national conference on cybercrime investigation and digital forensics, Vaishnaw said that the 5G auction would “absolutely” kick off as per the defined time schedule, and there would be no delays. 

Less than a week back, he revealed at Lok Sabha that India's indigenous 4G mobile network has been prepared in the shortest possible time and is ready for rollout soon while the 5G network will be ready by the end of 2022. The minister said the 5G network is built on the 4G network and the work is going on to build 5G capabilities. "The scientists have predicted that our 5G network will be ready by the end of this year."   

A few months earlier, at the inaugural address at the ‘India Telecom 2022’ international business expo, he had stated, “The country has developed its own indigenously developed 4G core & radio network. The 5G network is also in its final stages of development. The country is participating today in development of 6G standards, in the thought process of 6G.”  

It has been reported in the past that the spectrum auctions are slated to be carried out by private telecom providers in in 2022 in order to facilitate the rollout of 5G mobile services within 2022-23. This was further reinforced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.  While presenting the Budget 2022 on 1 February, she had announced that the government is drawing a blueprint to roll out a scheme for ‘design-led manufacturing’ that will help to build a robust ecosystem for 5G as part of the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes.