Multinational technology companies and chipset vendors have reportedly called on the centre to urgently delicense 30MHz in the 5.9GHz band to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, which they say could significantly reduce road fatalities. The technology would allow, for example, one car’s onboard unit (OBU) to exchange real-time data on speed, direction, braking status, and position with another car’s OBU via the 5G network. This would let vehicles and drivers detect dangers and obstacles well before they come into direct sight.
The Broadband India Forum (BIF) cited a study reporting that 0.16 million people were killed and 0.44 million injured in 0.46 million road crashes in India in 2022. BIF pointed out that several countries have already deployed or are in the process of rolling out V2V technologies as part of their strategies for safer and smarter mobility.
According to BIF, the Department of Telecommunications’ Wireless Planning Commission (WPC) has recommended delicensing 30MHz in the 5875–5925MHz range for OBUs to support V2V deployment, while suggesting that vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) connectivity be governed by licensing conditions since it would involve coordination among national, state, district, and municipal authorities.
BIF added that since the proposed usage aligns with both the current and revised National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP), the DoT could move quickly by issuing a gazette notification to formalise rules for OBU spectrum usage.
