Centre clears 5G spectrum auction for 10x faster services, to be held by July
5G spectrum auction: “Through such pathbreaking policy initiatives, the government has been able to promote access to mobile banking, online education,” an official statement read.
In a big move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union cabinet has cleared the auction of 5G spectrum, which will be held by the end of July. A total of 72 GHz (gigahertz) of spectrum - with a validity period of 20 years - will be put to auction. About 10 times faster than 4G, India is set to roll out the 5G services soon, the government said. “Digital connectivity has been an important part of policy initiatives of the government through its flagship programs such as Digital India, Start-up India, Make in India and others,” an official statement read.
5G Spectrum auction: The move has been cleared by PM Modi's cabinet. (Bloomberg) (HT_PRINT)
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
"The auction will be held for spectrum in various Low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz) and high (26 GHz) frequency bands. It is expected that the Mid and High band spectrum will be utilised by telecom service providers to roll out of 5G technology-based services capable of providing speed and capacities which would be about 10 times higher than what is possible through the current 4G services," it underlined.
“Broadband, especially the mobile broadband, has become (an) integral part of the daily lives of the citizens. This received a big boost through the rapid expansion of 4G services across the country since 2015. Eighty crore subscribers have access to broadband today compared to ten crore subscribers in 2014,” the statement further added. New-age businesses are set to benefitted with the big move, which will also create additional revenue for enterprises.
The Telecom Sector Reforms - announced in September last year - are expected to benefit the auction. The requirement of submitting a financial bank guarantee equivalent to one annual instalment has also been done away with.
The union cabinet has also decided to enable the development and setting up of Private Captive Networks, the government said, to spur a new wave of innovations in Industry 4.0 applications such as machine to machine communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) across automotive, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and other sectors.
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
{{^usCountry}}
Earlier this year, PM Modi had said India was planning to launch 6G services by the end of this decade and a task force has started working in that direction.
{{/usCountry}}
{{#usCountry}}
Earlier this year, PM Modi had said India was planning to launch 6G services by the end of this decade and a task force has started working in that direction.
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather major national developments and Karnataka Bandh LIVE.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather major national developments and Karnataka Bandh LIVE.
Home/India News/Centre clears 5G spectrum auction for 10x faster services, to be held by July
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
{{#usCountry}}{{/usCountry}}
Hindustantimes wants to start sending you push notifications. Click allow to subscribe
