5G Auctions expected to happen in India in December-January: HFCL

Domestic telecom gear manufacturer HFCL Limited’s Managing Director Mahendra Nahata expects 5G auctions to happen in India later this year in December-January timeframe. 5G has already taken the world by storm and is set to completely change the way communication happens. HFCL Limited expects network rollout starting immediately post the 5G auctions potentially to take place in December-January timeframe.

“So, 5G options are expected to happen in India in December-January timeframe and in this December-January timeframe when the auction happens, network rollout will start immediately thereafter,” said Mahendra Nahata, MD, HFCL Limited.

He further said that operators had already started preparing for the network rollout. 5G would need more number of cells sites due to the dense network with large number of cell sites resulting in more cell sites, more equipments required and more interconnectivity.

“Now 5G would mean more number of cell sites because it’s a very dense network, it means a large number of cell sites which results in more cell sites, more equipment required and more interconnectivity which is mostly going to be on fibre.

So the demand for fibre optic cable, transport equipment, microwave radios, all are going to increase immensely and it would result in demand for more than 5G macro cells, small cells.

So what we are doing in the 5G space is one, fibre optic cable we already have, microwave radios, high-capacity radio relays required for connecting cell sites of fibre optic, e-band v-band radios etc. we already have in our product portfolio,” added Mahendra Nahata, HFCL Limited.

In terms of CAPEX spending, Nahata said that 5G would start now with major capex going to only start when the spectrum is auctioned in early part of next calendar year.

“5G major capex is going to start when the spectrum is auctioned in early part of next calendar year as I said so. Right now preparation of 5G is happening. Some small expenditure in fiber optic cable, enhancement and those are being done.

Major Capex from 5G is going to start from the time when the auction takes place that is number one,” said Mahendra Nahata, HFCL Limited.