5G auctions: Indian telecom companies united on cheaper pricing

Trai faces a challenging task in executing a sharp reduction on its own price recommendations of August 2018 which came under severe attack from the stakeholders

With the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) poised to come out with its recommendation on 5G spectrum in a few days, stakeholders are divided on numerous issues except the one which matters the most: pricing.

If the mobile operators — Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea — succeed in making the regulator accept their demands, they will be paying close to global benchmarks of 5G spectrum prices, making the rolling out of the 5G network much cheaper.

If their demands on what the base price should be is accepted, the telcos have to spend only between Rs 2460-Rs 4920 crore for