Editor's Pick: A cautious move on 4G

The Hindu Newsletter - Newsletter - subject [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Thursday 17, December 2020 [alt_text]( Editor's Pick A cautious move on 4G from the Centre [alt_text]( (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.) [The Union Cabinet has cleared the sale]( of 2,251 Mhz of telecom spectrum at Rs.3.92 lakh crore. The sale is expected to help existing telecom operators improve their 4G offering and also renew expiring spectrum. At the last 4G auction in 2016, the government had put up 2,354.55 MHz of spectrum for sale with a reserve price of Rs 5.60 lakh crore. It ended up selling only 965 Mhz for Rs 65,789 crore. In 2019, the Department of Telecommunications had accepted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendation for the sale of 8,300 MHz of spectrum with a reserve price of Rs.5.22 lakh crore. However, the government has now put up for auction only a part of the TRAI recommendation, and a lower reserve price. It has not included spectrum that would allow 5G networks in this round of auction. Telecom operators have been complaining that the reserve price is too high. Operators like Airtel and Vi are reeling from the Supreme Court judgement in the Adjusted Gross Revenue case which asked them to pay a total of [nearly Rs.1 lakh crore to the DoT](. Reliance Jio, which was not affected much by the AGR judgement, will be a key player in this auction as the spectrum licence that it acquired from Reliance Communications is set to expire in August. The government would be expecting good returns on the auction, particularly in a year in which revenue has dropped significantly due to the pandemic. However, the level of investment that major players such as Airtel and Vi will be willing to make remains to be seen. The role of Jio, which could shell out a considerable amount to build a wider network, is also of interest. These are what make the story important. Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Head over to our newsletter subscription page to sign up for Editor's Pick and more. [Click here]( The Big Story [Dilli Chalo | Supreme Court moots panel for farmer-government talks]( [alt_text]( From the Front Page [alt_text]( [Coronavirus | Covaxin phase-1 trial results show promising results]( [alt_text]( [JEE-Main can be taken up to 4 times]( From the Opinion Pages [alt_text]( [A protocol of deference that is plainly injurious]( [alt_text]( [Privacy, a fundamental right the state must protect]( Today's Editorials [Excellence in diversity: On reservation and IIT recruitment]( [Discouraging numbers: On Nationa](l Family Health Survey You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0b42x21ybf2f90kaup33rtbysa8hked@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.]( Group Sites [The Hindu]( | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை]( | [Business Line]( | [BL on Campus]( | [Sportstar]( | [Frontline]( | [The Hindu Centre]( | [Images]( | [roofandfloor]( | [Classifieds]( Copyright @ 2020 ,THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us]( | [Contact Us]( | [Digital Subscription](