Satellite spectrum wars: No auction, foreign companies likely to benefit

Despite domestic telcos' insistence, earlier legal judgements have only called auction 'preferable' in the case of natural resources

In July this year, a curious situation emerged in the telecom auctions. There was no bid for the spectrum band commonly referred to as millimetre wave (MM wave).

 

Interestingly, though there was no bid, domestic telecom service providers such as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel asked the sector regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), to make more mm waves available for auction.

 

The mm waves spectrum band helps to clear the traffic when airwaves get congested. Fifth generation (5G) networks are therefore veering towards this band in the approximately 30 GHz wavelength. The auction was for