Telecom operators have submitted differing views on how to allocate spectrum for aircraft to ground station data communication services provided by entities other than the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The responses were submitted in response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) consultation paper on data communication services between aircraft and ground stations provided by organisations other than AAI.
In the consultation paper, TRAI had asked for suggestions regarding the mechanism of providing these airwaves to information technology (IT) and communication vendors to the Indian aviation industry – Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautique (SITA) and Bird Consultancy Services (BCS).
While all three operators agreed that such spectrum should be brought under the licensing regime, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) suggested that the allocation be through an auction. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel asked for the continuation of the current mechanism of assignment through an administrative basis or on payment of a fee.
According to Vi, considering spectrum is a valuable and inexhaustible natural resource as well as having elements of public good, it is vital to ensure efficient management and use of the spectrum as well as no loss to the national exchequer. It added that since the spectrum is being given for commercial services to a commercial entity, it should be allocation through a transparent and open auction process.
Further, according to Jio, aircraft-to-ground communication is a critical telecommunication service for aircraft and passenger safety but currently operates on ad-hoc permission-approval methodology. It added that all telecom services being offered in the country need to be offered under a licence or authorisation under Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
However, Airtel suggested continuing with the administrative assignment of the frequencies since the spectrum has limited and restricted usage. The frequency band 117.975-137 MHz is kept reserved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for air-ground and ground-air critical voice and data communications.
The operators agreed on matters of validity of the licence, the licence area and the scope of the licence. All three telcos said that the licence should be valid for 20 years nationally and the scope should be restricted to the ground station and radio in the aircraft cockpit.
