India rolls out 5G spectrum on trial

India's Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that the government will give 5G spectrum to all market players.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will provide trial spectrum to all telecom service providers. These operators can choose their partner vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Huawei.

The in-priniciple nod for the trial run, however, does not assure an approval for commercial roll out.

On Tuesday, the DoT will hold a meeting regarding the trials.

Earlier in the month, the DoT approved prices for the next spectrum auction which will put on offer around 6050 MHz of air waves specifically for 5G.

The Digital Communication Commission (DCC), the highest policy making body of the Telecom Ministry, on December 20 approved the spectrum auctions to be held in March-April while making no change in the reserve pricing of the radiowaves decided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). 

The auction will see 5G spectrum sale for the first time.

According to sources, Chinese technology major Huawei has also got approval for the trial run. This comes as a major relief as there has been speculation whether the company would be allowed in the 5G trials given it is facing scrutiny globally.

People in the know further said that the trials are likely to start next month.