![\"\"](\"\/\/www.iser-br.com\/Themes\/Release\/images\/responsive\/ettelecom-default.jpg\")
“The telcos via COAI have said unless airwave prices are not dropped by 60-70%, then 5G auctions won’t be successful. The three telcos will participate better if prices are lowered,” said a senior executive of one of the private telcos. The letter was sent a week ago.
COAI did not respond to ET’s queries at the time of publishing this story.
The government is expected to auction 5G airwaves in April-May 2022, but prices have remained a contentious point.
Lowering the base price of 5G spectrum is critical to the success of the auctions, industry<\/a> executives and experts said.
Vi’s managing director, Ravinder Takkar<\/a> in a recent analyst call cautioned that if the base rates for 5G spectrum are not brought down, there will once again be no takers for those airwaves.
The current base price of Rs 492 crore for a unit of 5G spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz band has been deemed too expensive by all three private players. At suggested price, it is the most expensive in the world, with rates in countries like Italy, US, Korea and UK far lower.
Meanwhile, the three rivals are in the midst of testing 5G use cases on government allotted spectrum. Last week, Airtel became the first telco to test 5G technology in the 700Mhz band, while Vi demonstrated use cases of 5G trials.