No 30-year spectrum lease period for telcos

Telecom operators will have to remain content with a 20-year lease of spectrum as the department of telecommunications (DoT) has decided not to extend the same to a 30-year period.

In a set of telecom sector reforms announced in September, 2021, the Union Cabinet had approved increasing the lease period of spectrum acquired in future auctions to 30 years. However, in the last 5G spectrum auction and the upcoming spectrum auction starting June 25, DoT has not modified the lease period and kept it at 20 years.