In its counter-comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s consultation paper on ‘Digital Transformation through 5G Ecosystem’, Reliance Jio has urged the government to earmark the full 6 GHz spectrum, i.e., 5925MHz-7125MHz for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) (mobility) services to ensure that adequate spectrum is available to each carrier for 5G and introduce 6G services.
According to Jio, the auction route is the only legally tenable and technologically feasible mode of spectrum assignment for commercial uses. The use of this band neither satisfies the criteria prescribed for administrative allocation in the Indian Telecommunications Act 2023, which has been notified pending fixation of the appointed date nor there is any provision for licence exempt use in the said act.
Jio noted that countries which have delicenced the entire 6GHz band for Wi-Fi services are now facing difficulty in reversing their decision when a large part of the band (i.e. 6.425 GHz to 7.025 GHz) is being considered for IMT in WRC-23. It added that over 800MHz of spectrum already delicenced is not fully utilised anywhere and the demand for additional delicencing needs to be considered keeping in view availability of this huge chunk of unutilised spectrum.
Jio, in its counter-comments further added that internet access services can be provided through Wi-Fi technology or 5G new radio unlicenced (NRU) network built over the same delicensed spectrum. The telco further stressed that delicencing of spectrum will not only create a cost arbitrage between the operator providing services on licenced spectrum and other operators but will also lead to huge loss to exchequer.
On the other hand, companies represented by the Broadband India Forum (BIF) have been reiterating their stance to delicence and allot without auction, the crucial mid-band spectrum for the proliferation of Wi-Fi services in India.
In addition, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in a letter dated December 13, 2023, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology and Railways, said that the government’s failure to identify the 6GHz frequency range for mobile services would harm India’s interests and impact the ecosystem development worldwide. Meanwhile, GSMA, too, had echoed similar views, and in a separate but identical letter to Vaishnaw said that studies show that India would require more mid-band spectrum to continue its strong start to 5G.
