T.V. Ramachandran, president, Broadband India Forum (BIF), has commented on government’s draft notification on delicensing of 6 Ghz. He mentioned, “We had already heartily welcomed the long overdue and much needed Government’s first step in the delicensing of 500 MHz (5925-6425) in the 6GHz range. In view of the need to capture the full economic and research and development (R&D) benefits for India, it is reiterated that plans for the next onward steps for more of delicensed 6GHz band need to be expedited.
Today’s increasingly higher data requirement demands the use of large bandwidth channels like 320 MHz to cater to the new ‘bandwidth intensive applications’ like Industry 5.0, augmented reality (AR)/ virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), E-health, etc. The only spectrum band that can provide at least 3 wide bandwidth channels of 320 MHz each is the 6 GHz band. Only full 1100 MHz of 6 GHz Wi-Fi can effectively support immersive, data heavy applications, which existing Wi-Fi spectrum bands cannot meet. The full 6 GHz spectrum is necessary to provide sufficient capacity to carry the Gigabyte throughputs and Gigabit speed of the signals downloaded from fibre, 5G and 6G networks, and to enhance the speeds, data capacities and overall efficacy of these ultra-wide Broadband networks
The true transformative power of the 6GHz band can only be harnessed when we move beyond this initial suboptimal chunk of 500 MHz. The complete benefits of license exemption of 6GHz spectrum band can only be realised when at least an additional 160 MHz is delicensed, bringing the total to at least 660 MHz. This would ensure that at least two users could get 320 MHz wide channels simultaneously for high-speed applications and data usage and will also ensure that any combination of channel bandwidths of 320, 160 and 80 MHz could be used for deployment of advanced Wi-Fi technologies viz. Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7.”
Further, he added, “As demonstrated by Australia, which initially delicensed 500 MHz (5945-6425 MHz) and then its regulator ACMA added a further 160 MHz upon review of interference modelling. India needs to also rapidly move to make at least 660 MHz delicensed in order to cater optimally to consumers/public interests.
In view of the above, it is suggested that these rules for use of long period (LP) and very long period (VLP) Wireless Access Systems (WAS)/ Radio Local Area Network (RLAN) system, be made applicable for the entire 6GHz band (5925-7025MHz) and to begin with at least from 5925-6585 MHz (Total of 660 MHz), instead of 5925-6425MHz (Total of 500 MHz) as at present.
As regards permitted power levels, we feel that they need to be reviewed so as to permit equitable distribution of low power and very low power devices in indoor and outdoor environments as applicable. Also, it needs to be aligned with global best practices to enable use of affordably priced devices in India.
It is impossible for a fraction of the band to deliver the full-scale impact we seek for the public. The complete chunk of 1200 MHz of delicensed 6 GHz band is required (as done by USA and some other countries) in order to unleash the full power of next-generation technologies like Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 which are set to become foundational to our Digital Public Infrastructure. This would serve as the backbone for delivering affordable, high-speed, low-latency connectivity, powering smart schools, hospitals, factories, cities and villages and breathe life into the vision of Viksit Bharat.”
