{"id":39536,"date":"2024-02-10T03:14:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T21:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=39536"},"modified":"2025-04-24T16:50:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T11:20:48","slug":"spectrum-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/spectrum-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"Nod for spectrum auction"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is Airwaves\/Spectrum?<\/li>\n<li>Types of spectrum band<\/li>\n<li>What spectrum do telecom companies require?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary: Nod for spectrum auction<\/li>\n<li>Key highlights<\/li>\n<li>Spectrum allocation to railways<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Cabinet has approved telecom spectrum auction across multiple bands at a base price of Rs 96,317.65 crore.<\/li>\n<li>The Cabinet also approved the proposal, which entails granting Indian Railways 5 Megahertz of wireless spectrum, largely free of cost, for real-time data to enhance passenger safety.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Airwaves\/Spectrum<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Airwaves are radio frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum that can carry information wirelessly for a range of services including telecommunications.<\/li>\n<li>The government manages and allocates airwaves to companies or sectors for their use.<\/li>\n<li>The government auctions a fixed amount of spectrum within specified band\/s to be utilised by operators for providing communication services to consumers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Types of spectrum band<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Spectrum can be divided into bands ranging from low frequency to high frequency, which determines their usage and is useful in allocation.<\/li>\n<li>Low band spectrum\n<ul>\n<li>Less than 1 GHz (600 MHz,700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz)<\/li>\n<li>Offers blanket coverage suitable to serve thousands of customers over long distances with fewer towers.<\/li>\n<li>Ideal for wide and in-building coverage.<\/li>\n<li>When bundled with high-spectrum bands, it can be used for commercial mobile and broadcasting services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The mid-band spectrum\n<ul>\n<li>Ranges from 1 GHz to 6 GHz (1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 2300 MHz).<\/li>\n<li>Provides coverage as well as the capacity to carry more data while traveling significant distances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The high band spectrum\n<ul>\n<li>Ranges from 24 GHz to 40 GHz and are also known as the millimetre wave spectrum.<\/li>\n<li>Ideal for speedy networks over short ranges.<\/li>\n<li>However, this range is subject to interference from dense objects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What spectrum do telecom companies require?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the GSM Association, for telecom purposes, spectrum in the 400 MHz to 4 GHz range is the most optimum.<\/li>\n<li>Operators can provide 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G services using one frequency band if they have enough spectrum.<\/li>\n<li>For mobile technology in India:\n<ul>\n<li>2G services use the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands,<\/li>\n<li>3G uses 900 MHz and 2100 MHz,<\/li>\n<li>4G uses 850 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz, and 2500 MHz, and<\/li>\n<li>5G uses 3.5MHz and 700 MHz bands.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The 900 MHz band is a superior commercial ecosystem with better-developed technology standards.\n<ul>\n<li>It is also suitable for offering GSM-based voice calls as well as 4G broadband services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>After 900 MHz, the band suitable for GSM is 1800 MHz, which is also the core band used globally for LTE (long-term evolution), a 4G mobile communications standard.<\/li>\n<li><u>5G spectrum bands can be clubbed into low, mid and high spectrum buckets<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Union Cabinet approved an auction of telecom spectrum this year for airwaves amounting to a cumulative reserve price of \u20b996,317.65 crore.\n<ul>\n<li>The reserve pricing is the minimum telecom companies will have to pay for acquiring this spectrum.<\/li>\n<li>This is because, these companies will have to bid with the reserve pricing as the minimum price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key highlights<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Bands to be auctioned\n<ul>\n<li>The spectrum will be in the 800, 900, 1,800, 2,100, 2,300, 2,500 and 3,300 megahertz (MHz), as well as in the 26 gigahertz (GHz) bands.<\/li>\n<li>If sold, the spectrum will be <u>valid for a 20-year period<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Expiring airwaves of some companies will also be auctioned\n<ul>\n<li>Expiring airwaves that belong to certain companies undergoing insolvency will also be auctioned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Approved spectrum requirements of railways\n<ul>\n<li>Spectrum has also been approved for use by the railways for the deployment of Kavach.\n<ul>\n<li>Kavach is the automatic train protection (ATP) system used for preventing accidents in the rail network.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This 5 MHz band in the 700MHz band will be assigned to multiple regional and urban rail-based transit systems.\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian Railways had sought additional 5 Mhz of paired spectrum, free of cost, in the 700 MHz band in July 2023.<\/li>\n<li>This was a month after the Balasore incident that left 296 persons dead and nearly 1,200 injured.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Committee formed to decide on the issue of refarming spectrum\n<ul>\n<li>The government has also set up a Cabinet Secretary-chaired committee to decide on the issue of refarming spectrum.\n<ul>\n<li>Spectrum refarming is the process of repurposing radio frequency bands for different uses.<\/li>\n<li>This allows different generations of cellular networks to operate in the same radio spectrum.<\/li>\n<li>In other words, it is the process of transitioning a specific radio frequency band from one technology to another.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Spectrum allocation to railways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Past precedents\n<ul>\n<li>In the past, the Railways had received spectrum grants, for which they only needed to pay an annual royalty without bidding for the airwaves like telecom operators.<\/li>\n<li>However, the data transfer capacity was not sufficient to allow trains to continuously upload video footage for safety purposes.<\/li>\n<li>The video feeds were instead dumped at railway stations with a WiFi connection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Demand of spectrum from railways\n<ul>\n<li>The Railways was only granted 5 Mhz of its original demand for 15 MHz in discussions post the Balasore tragedy.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, Railways had again asked for an additional 5 MHz of paired spectrum in the 700 MHz band.<\/li>\n<li>Railways wants additional spectrum for implementing several safety features such as:\n<ul>\n<li>the Modern Train Control System,<\/li>\n<li>Train Collision Avoidance System,<\/li>\n<li>signal aspect in loco cabs, and<\/li>\n<li>emergency mobile communications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Other advantages that the spectrum allocation could bring, include:\n<ul>\n<li>increased speed,<\/li>\n<li>augmenting train\u2019s running capacity,<\/li>\n<li>passenger security,<\/li>\n<li>CCTV network-like live feed at security control centres,<\/li>\n<li>video surveillance, video analytics, asset reliability, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Opposition from Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)\n<ul>\n<li>COAI had in the past opposed free handouts in the 700 MHz band, from which this spectrum has been set aside for the Railways.<\/li>\n<li>That band is used for commercial telecom operations around the world, and a significant chunk of it had already been assigned to the Ministry of Defence.<\/li>\n<li>Further assignment to non-telecom use cases would leave the spectrum availability for technologies like 5G grossly inadequate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is Long-term evolution (LTE)?<\/h3>\n<p>Long-term evolution (LTE) is a 4th generation (4G) wireless standard that improves the speed and capacity of cellular networks. It&#8217;s based on GSM\/EDGE and UMTS\/HSPA standards, but uses a different radio interface and core network improvements.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2)\u00a0What is Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)?<\/h3>\n<p>GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communication. It&#8217;s a second-generation telecommunication standard (2G) that describes the protocols for digital cellular networks. GSM is a wireless network that allows mobile devices like phones and tablets to transmit data and voice services.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/business\/2024\/Feb\/09\/nod-for-spectrum-auction-at-base-price-of-rs-96317-crore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Nod for spectrum auction at base price of Rs 96,317 crore<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/union-cabinet-gives-nod-for-spectrum-auction\/article67826846.ece#:~:text=The%20Union%20Cabinet%20approved%20an,26%20gigahertz%20(GHz)%20bands.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/trai-nod-notwithstanding-cabinet-approves-spectrum-for-railways\/article67829737.ece#:~:text=A%20day%20after%20the%20Telecom,surprise%20move%20on%20Thursday%20approved\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/5g-auctions-bidding-at-stake-for-whom-8051226\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>| Indian Express<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Airwaves are radio frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum that can carry information wirelessly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}