DOT looks for more spectrum to meet telcos’ 5G demand
Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea seek at least 80 MHZ for launching 5G
The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has started searching for additional spectrum to meet the demand of telecom companies for a larger chunk of airwaves to roll out 5G services.
“We have allocated the 3300 MHZ to 3600 MHZ band for 5G services. Worldwide, the allocation of bands for 5G services is from 3300 MHZ to 4200 MHZ. India doesn’t have that much bandwidth, so we are looking for an additional 150 MHZ,” a senior official told Business Standard.
Currently, the spectrum available for 5G services is 175 MHZ, with a cap of 50 MHZ per company. This means one of the four players may not get even 50 MHZ.
The companies – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and VI – recently wrote to the Centre, seeking at least 80 MHZ for launching 5G services. They are of the view that anything less 80 MHZ would not be able earn the benefit of 5G.
Experts say ideally the bandwidth for seamless 5G services should be 100 MHZ, telcos can provide superior-quality services even with 80 MHZ, but something less than that would not serve the purpose of 5G. “To ensure that each player gets at least 80 MHZ, we need the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to spare 100 MHZ from its share of the airwaves and also the Ministry of Defence should agree to take 50 MHZ spectrum instead of the 100 MHZ sought by it. That will make available 325 MHZ for 5G services,” the official quoted above said.
The DOT is yet to begin negotiations either with the defence ministry or Isro for this.
The amount of spectrum for launching 5G services has been an issue with the telecom companies since the beginning of talks about 5G. The matter remains unresolved because the government is yet to make up its mind on three things: One, the price of the 5G spectrum to be offered; second, the amount of spectrum to be offered to the telcos for bidding; and third, whether to conduct 5G auctions this financial year or not.
On several occasions the telecom industry has said the price of 5G spectrum in India is four times the international prices.
In its recommendations in August 2018, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had upheld its previous suggestion of auctioning radiowaves used for telecom services on 5G and other bands at a start price of more than ~5.7 trillion. The regulator said the 3,300-3,600 MHZ band, expected to be the primary band for 5G services, should be auctioned as a single band and in blocks of 20 MHZ each at ~492 crore per MHZ.
For the high-value 700 MHZ spectrum, which is considered efficient for deploying 4G LTE networks and has greater structural penetration, Trai recommended a lower base price of ~6,568 crore per MHZ, 43 per cent lower than ~11,485 crore set in the 2016 auction. It is learnt that the Centre may have another round of spectrum auction in this fiscal year, but it is unlikely that 5G spectrum would be on offer, considering the financial situation of the sector.