By John Tanner
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reportedly pushed back its next spectrum auction from May 20 to June 6 so that it can take place after the country’s general elections.
According to ETTelecom, the mock auction originally slated for May 13-14 has also been pushed back to June 3.
The report said that the DoT amended the notice inviting application (NIA) on Wednesday to push back the date at the request of telcos Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, who want the auction to take place after the election results are announced.
India’s general election starts on April 19, while the results are expected to be revealed on June 4.
The auction will offer up spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands. An earlier ETTelecom report said that just over 10,523 MHz of 5G spectrum will be up for grabs, worth INR963.1 billion (US$11.3 billion).
The auction won’t include the 600-MHz band, as the DoT is still working out how to mitigate potential interference issues with satellite operators.
