Trai recommendation on 5G spectrum by March, service roll out this year: Telecom Min
Categories: DAILY NEWS
The telecom minister Ashwani Vaishnaw on Tuesday said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendation on 5G spectrum is expected to come by March, after which spectrum action will be held expeditiously for the roll out of the next generation service.Commenting on the Union Budget 2022-23, the minister said "recommendations on 5G are expected by March". The minister said that the government will make efforts for 5G services to be rolled out in India in 2022.Trai has floated a consultation paper of 5G spectrum auction to discuss the view of interested companies and other stakeholders to fix price and conditions for allotment of the radiowaves. The regulator will give its recommendation to the Department of Telecom which will then seek approval of higher authorities before conducting the auction."To enable affordable broadband and mobile service proliferation in rural and remote areas, five per cent of annual collections under the Universal Service Obligation Fund will be allocated. This will promote R&D and commercialization of technologies and solutions," Sitharaman said.The budget also announced infusion of Rs 44,720 crore into loss-making state-owned telecom firm BSNL in the next financial year, according to Budget documents. "BSNL is now making operating profit after a long time," the minister said.The capital infusion in BSNL is mainly for 4G spectrum and 4G service roll out across the country."4G and 5G are organically linked. One who has not installed 4G cannot install 5G. We have to see that a lot of youth, friends, brothers connect with BSNL and it should provide last-mile connectivity," Vaishnaw said. Besides, the capital infusion, the government will provide additional financial support of Rs 7,443.57 crore to the telecom firm for a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and Rs 3,550 crore as grant-in-aid for payment of GST.