India should define world-leading spectrum roadmap for future telecom networks: GSMA, ET Telecom

NEW DELHI: Indian regulators need to be at the leading edge of the world in defining a spectrum roadmap that will allow the country to attain a leadership position in the sixth-generation (6G) technology by the end of the decade and allow telecom operators to deliver 5G services smoothly, according to a telco industry body.

“As India aspires to be a leader by the end of the decade in 6G, India now has to step forward and lead in spectrum allocation, and the debate of future allocations for spectrum,” Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific (APAC) at GSMA, told ETTelecom in an interview. “…the country also needs to be at the world’s leading edge of making spectrum available for the industry and making a defined spectrum roadmap that extends into the future,” Gorman said.

A futuristic spectrum roadmap, he added, will instill confidence in the industry about the availability of airwaves and enable telecom carriers to move ahead with business cases and long-term innovation centered on next-generation technologies.

Gorman’s comments come ahead of India’s next round of spectrum sale which begins June 6 after the announcement of election results.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this February approved auctions in eight key bands for telecom services at a base price of Rs 96,317.65 crore.

The Ministry of Communications will put under hammer spectrum in 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2300MHz, 2500MHz, 3300MHz, and the 26GHz bands. The said spectrum will be offered with a validity period of 20 years.

In the country’s first 5G spectrum auction, the Centre netted Rs 1.5 lakh crore. The government had put 72,098MHz spectrum to auction, of which 51,236MHz (71% of the total) had been sold. In this auction, 10 different bands were put to auction that included 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz.

Notably, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), an association representing Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) has been reiterating that the telco industry needs 2GHz of spectrum for ensuring smooth 5G services, and has pointed out that there is a deficiency of 1200MHz at present.

“Unfortunately in the last auction, we could get only 800 megahertz which means we have a deficiency of 1200 megahertz. If there has to be an effective rollout of 5G in the mid-band, the spectrum requirement will be met fully by taking 1200 megahertz from the 6 gigahertz range and giving it to IMT (mobility services),” SP Kochhar, Director-General of COAI told ETTelecom in a recent interview.