Ahead of the next spectrum auction, the telecom industry body COAI has urged the government to lower bid prices, saying service providers have yet to recover their huge investments in 5G infrastructure, according to an official.

Speaking with PTI on the sidelines of the recently held COAI Digicom Summit, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General S P Kochhar said that the industry expects the government to consider the humongous investment made by telecom operators in 5G, without any return on investment.

"I hope that the spectrum prices go down because 5G has seen a lot of capital infusion without ROI. Till the time we start getting ROI, investing in a very expensive spectrum will have to be judged as a cost-effective business purpose. A spectrum cannot be just used by picking it up from the auction, but it has to be made usable with large investments," Kocchar said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in February recommended that the government put the entire 11,790 MHz of available spectrum in the frequency bands of 600 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz for auction.

Spectrum with low frequency count provide wider coverage. The government is exploring auctioning spectrum in the 600 MHz band, which is expected to improve mobile network coverage inside buildings.

The regulator's recommended base price values the entire spectrum at ₹2.1 lakh crore. The recommended price is estimated to be 19 per cent cheaper than prices recommended for the last auction held in 2022.

Kocchar said that the costing will decide as quantum of spectrum that telecom operators will buy.

"We want more spectrum. There are many countries where the spectrum is free, but there are obligations for that spectrum. So the model has to evolve now, with 5G having come in and 6G on the horizon. The model has to be different from the one which we are following. That is a call the government has to take," Kocchar said.

The government has decided to allocate spectrum administratively without auction for satellite communication services. However, spectrum available for mobile services is allocated only through auction.

"We have been writing to the government that the spectrum cost is the biggest capital expenditure that we incur. They have to at least hold a hand till the time we start getting ROI on the use of spectrum," Kochhar said.

Published on April 26, 2026