With India set for its 5G spectrum auctions, all eyes are glued on the Indian telecom players who will be vying for the coveted 5G spectrum to kickstart their services in the country. But the Indian Government has made lives tricky for the telcos once again by offering private 5G networks to businesses, allowing them to set up their own network base to run their operations.
Understandably, this news has come as a jolt to the likes of Airtel, Vi and Jio, and experts have reportedly claimed this could dampen the demand for the 5G spectrum during the auctions next month.
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Giving the network to enterprises means telcos lose a large chunk of their revenue potential. So, this could make them think twice before going through with their planned move during the 5G spectrum auctions. “The new rules would definitely hit the 5G business case of telcos and reduce their appetite for expensive C-band 5G spectrum in next month’s auction to around 40-50 units,” as per the source quoted by ET in its report.
By offering private 5G networks to the enterprises, the government has given them a cost-effective way of providing the bandwidth for their operations. The businesses will not be charged any license fee while allotting the spectrum for their 5G network.
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Most telecom bodies agree that in the initial stages 5G network will be majorly deployed for enterprise use cases. And gradually move into the consumer space for the public through the 5G network.
Losing out on enterprise business could further discourage telcos from pumping big money for the spectrum auctions, who are already grappling with lower revenues and wanted additional financial support (via 5G network to business) to sustain their operations in the long run. The 5G spectrum auctions are likely to happen on July 26 in India, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on the developments to see if all the telcos fulfil their 5G commitment.
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