COAI says government has overpriced the base auction of 5G On Tuesday, a day after the government announced its intention to hold spectrum auctions within the current year, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that the recommended base price of 5G radiowaves was 30-40% higher than those in markets such as the US and South Korea, the BusinessLine reported. COAI is the industry body that represents mobile service providers such as Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm. Rajan Mathews, the director general of COAI, said that incentives should be built in to the spectrum price, given that 5G services would also aim to serve social goals. In August 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had recommended that the Department of Telecom (DoT) auction 20 MHz blocks in the 3,300-3,600 MHz spectrum band, which has been lined up for 5G, at a base price of ₹492 crore per MHz, as per News18. Telecom operators seek auction of 26GHz, 28GHz bands for 5G The COAI, recently wrote to the Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarajan, asking the government to auction spectrum in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz bands for 5G services in the upcoming sale, the Economic Times reported. These bands are considered ideal for ultra-fast wireless broadband services. COAI also suggested that the DoT urgently seek TRAI’s views on pricing these premium airwaves. The letter said that India must follow the lead of the US, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, which have already auctioned 28…
