DoT decides to charge no fee for the 5G rollout obligations

The DoT said that there will be no expenses for testing 5G in the 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands.

In a statement, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said, there would be no fees for the testing of 5G rollout commitments. The carriers were required to complete the rollout by August 17, 2023. This was intended to work with both 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz frequency bands for 5G. The top two leading telecom carriers in the country, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, fulfilled all of the rollout requirements.

The telecom providers must provide the DoT with sites in a specific format so that it can verify that the rollout responsibilities have been met. The DoT said that there will be no expenses for testing 5G in the 3300 MHz and 26 GHz frequency bands.

In order to fulfil its commitments, Vodafone Idea (Vi) only conducted 5G tests in Pune and Delhi; as a result, the business did not adhere to the government's requirements for a full deployment.

The DoT has not yet formally declared the repercussions for Vi. However, they had already published penalty standards for those who did not fulfil the minimal rollout obligations.

Nearly 96% of census towns have Reliance Jio's 5G coverage and it aims to complete it's nation wide deployment by December of 2023.According to Bharti Airtel, 5G has been deployed in more than 5000 towns and cities. Different tactics are being used by the two carriers to push out 5G. Due to a lack of funding, Vodafone Idea was unable to implement 5G in accordance with rollout requirements.

Earlier in August, In order to pay its statutory dues, Vodafone Idea (Vi) has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for further time.

For March FY23 quarter and June FY24 quarter, the telecom operator reportedly requests an extension until the end of December to pay the remaining 50% of licence fees and 90% of spectrum usage charges. Vodafone Idea informed DoT that it is focused on raising money and that its promoters are dedicated to helping the business. The promoters aren’t very excited to invest more money in the business, though. Because the promoters don’t want to put any more money into the business, Vi has generally been unable to raise money thus far.

Competing telecommunications companies are capitalising on growing their market share with 5G and improved 4G network experiences in response to Vodafone Idea’s ongoing subscriber losses. Vodafone Idea has not been successful in halting the downward trend and gaining new customers.The main reason behind the decline in subscribers is that Vodafone Idea is the only significant telecom provider in India that has not yet introduced 5G services.