As per industry sources, Prasar Bharti, the national broadcaster, has raised concerns regarding the auction of frequency band 526MHz – 582MHz for providing 5G mobile services. To this end, Prasar Bharti has informed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that the particular band is being used by Doordarshan for offering terrestrial television (TV) broadcasting.
In addition, Prasar Bharti also put forth the fact that the allocation of 3300MHz to 3700MHz frequency band for telecom services will lead to a reduction of “guard band” between terrestrial telecom services and C-band satellite spectrum, from the current 80MHz to 10MHz.
Furthermore, the national broadcaster also stressed that the 526-617MHz band should not be auctioned in the upcoming spectrum auction, arguing that the airwaves in this band are required for existing services, for expanding coverage, and for modernisation of services.
Prasar Bharti underlined the need for adequate spectrum for itself as it is testing new technologies. Lately, the national broadcaster inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT-Kanpur for collaborating in new technologies, such as direct to mobile broadcasting, and convergence with 5G. Meanwhile, the government is set to auction airwaves in several bands such as 526-698 MHz, 700 MHz, 800MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz, and 24.25-28.5 GHz bands for 5G services.
