The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday released the reducing reserve price for spectrum auction, including the 5G airwaves, by 35-40 percent compared to the base price in the last round of the auction.

Releasing its recommendations for the auction of airwaves, TRAI also suggested easier payment options for the operators.

TRAI said in the press release, “For the long-term growth and sustainability of the telecom sector, infusing liquidity and encouraging investment, telecom service providers should be allowed easy payment options, including part payment with the flexibility of moratorium”.

All spectrum is available in existing bands — 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz — and new spectrum bands — 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz, and 24.25-28.5 GHz — will be put to auction.

“For the first time, more than 1.04 lakh spectrum will be put into auction and there is an average reduction of 39-40 percent in the reserve prices from the previous auctions,” TRAI added.

As per the new proposals, the base price for the coveted 700 MHz band works out to be ₹3,927 crore per MHz, which is 40 percent lower than earlier. The price has been reduced because this frequency band is crucial for the 5G roll-out and two previous attempts to sell it had not succeeded due to the high base price.

For the other 5G frequency band of 3300-3670 MHz, the all-India reserve price adds up to ₹317 crore per MHz, which is over 35 percent lower than the ₹492 crore/MHz suggested by the regulator last time.

The government had garnered only ₹77,815 crore by sale of an aggregate 855.60 MHz of the spectrum last year (in March) even though spectrum worth ₹3.92-lakh crore was up for sale. The sale, therefore, was dull as compared to the auctions in 2014 and 2016 where the proportion of sold spectrum was over 80 percent and 40 percent, The Hindu reported.

TRAI has also proposed rationalising of spectrum caps which includes a cap of 40 percent on combined spectrum holding in sub-1 GHz bands, and a separate cap of 40 percent on all other combined spectrum holding.