The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to provide additional spectrum channels for backhaul, say news reports. The Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) wing has suggested giving four channels of spectrum to wireless broadband players instead of the existing norm to allocate two channels.
This is expected to benefit broadband players. Backhaul microwave spectrum is used by operators to carry traffic between two towers and also for transmitting long-distance voice and data traffic.
Prior to this, a few broadband players requested for additional microwave spectrum to launch services.
According to an internal DoT note, ?Broadband wireless access operators had said that they are unable to deploy their network for proper coverage as the allotted two microwave access carriers are inadequate. The bandwidth requirement of a BWA network in comparison to a 2G/3G network is higher.?
Each microwave channel has 28 Mhz of spectrum and is capable of transmitting data at speeds of 50 Mbps, according to a DoT committee. But since fourth generation technology can offer speeds of 150 Mbps, operators would need three to four microwave links, the committee observed.
