Spectrum auction will be conducted very soon, and the next-generation 5G services are expected to commence before the end of the year, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Replying to a supplementary question during Question Hour, Mr. Chauhan said four companies had been allotted spectrum for conducting trials which were expected to be completed soon.
In parallel, the Minister said, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had been asked to give its recommendations on the upcoming auction.
"We will conduct auctions very soon. By the end of this year, we will start 5G services in the country," he said.
He asserted that the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) would begin its 4G services this year.
‘Great revolution’
The Minister said a "great revolution" had taken place in the telecom sector over the last seven years and that data consumption had soared while tariffs were at the lowest.
There was a robust public grievance mechanism in place and complaints pending for over 48 hours were escalated to senior officials, Mr. Chauhan said.
The government had taken a slew of measures to revive telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL. The quality of BSNL services would also improve with the launch of the state-owned corporation's 4G services, he asserted.
Mr. Chauhan also outlined the reforms undertaken by the government in the telecom sector and cited measures such as re-definition of AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue).
‘Subscriber numbers up’
In a written reply, Communication Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "There is no decline in the number of mobile subscribers in the country in the year 2020-21." As per the monthly Telecom Subscription Data released by the TRAI, the number of mobile subscribers in India increased from 1,157.75 million in March 2020 to 1,180.96 million in March 2021.
To improve the Quality of Service (QoS), he said drive test and Radio Frequency (RF) optimisation were carried out regularly by mobile service providers.
"Further, to provide state-of-the-art and prompt service to mobile customers, service providers optimally manage the increasing traffic by way of adding more number of sites, providing fibre backhaul, using small cells and undertaking network optimisation," Mr. Vaishnaw said.
Moreover, the TRAI had issued guidelines and set various parameters and benchmarks to monitor QoS.
These parameters were assessed for the entire licence service area on a quarterly basis.
For ensuring compliance with the QoS benchmarks and to protect the interests of consumers, the TRAI had prescribed the system of financial disincentives for non-compliance with the benchmarks, Mr. Vaishnaw said.
