5G panel suggests opening of new spectrum bands

NEW DELHI: A panel has suggested that the government announce a 5G spectrum allocation policy by end of this year, and recommended earmarking additional airwave bands for supporting the next-gen technology that may have an economic impact of more than $1 trillion.

The high-level 5G Forum, set up by the government, also recommended that free bandwidth be assigned for trials for a fixed time frame to allow setting up of the network.

“Given a six-month active trials period, spectrum license may be provided for 12 months. Further, after the trials are completed, if the TSP (telecom service provider) wishes to convert the trials deployment into a revenue deployment, they may be provided favourable terms to purchase spectrum under the auction regime,” the panel said in its 62-page report submitted to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Thursday.

It further suggested that most guidelines on regulatory matters be promulgated by March 2019 to facilitate early 5G deployment.

“In India, 5G deployment strategy faces conflicting considerations. If we go for early adoption, the equipment is likely to be more expensive and being early, it will also be glitchy needing costly maturing. On the other hand, early adoption will fast track the country’s embrace of 5G’s benefits and increase opportunities to develop innovative use cases that support Indian needs,” the report said.

It added that the government needs to keep in mind that even after the entry of 5G into Indian networks, 2G, 3G and 4G will continue to remain in use and it may take 10 or more years to phase out.

Professor Emeritus AJ Paulraj, who headed the steering committee of the 5G panel, said India is likely to see the first 5G commercial launch in 2020.

The committee said that the DoT may provide financial support to telcos related to deployment - backhauls, site acquisition, civil works and trials manpower and related operational costs. It added that additional financial support may be offered to internet service providers (ISPs), technology companies, local governments and economic verticals to participate in the trials.


Further, partial financial support for capital expenditure for equipment makers may also be considered based on equitable risk sharing, the report said. The committee suggested a broad planning estimate of Rs 300 crore in Year 1, Rs 400 crore in Year 2, Rs 500 crore in Year 3 and Rs 400 crore in year 4.

“5G will enable rapid transformation in agriculture, manufacturing and social sectors and India can emerge as a technology innovator worldwide,” Paulraj said.

The report suggested ways to accelerate 5G deployment in India, and said that new bands below 4GHz should be opened up for the new technology to support mobile networks.

It recommended allocation of 405 Mhz of sub 4GHz spectrum immediately while another 137 Mhz is under consideration requiring further studies. It also suggested millimetre (MM) band for the 5G technology, and said that 140 Mhz spectrum for backhaul usage should be allowed in addition to opening up of new bands for indoor access in line with global practices.

“India is looking to position itself as a leader in 5G technology, so we are looking at use cases unique to India,” said telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan, who headed the overall 5G task force. She added that India should focus on innovation as the country has significant design capability. “We will continue to work on generation of Intellectual Property (IP)”.

The government has also created an ‘Oversight Committee’ under the Sundararajan, Ministry of Electronics and IT secretary Ajay P Sawhney and Department of Science and Technology secretary Ashutosh Sharma.

“Operators have raised concerns related to business, security and privacy,” Paulraj said, adding that the DoT is going form a three-member expert committee to work on industry concerns and submit its finding by March 31, 2019.

In order to facilitate application use cases, the forum also recommended creation of laboratories under different economical verticals and would allow application testing.

With over 300 million in the Indian middle class living in urban areas, a variety of 5G business models for new services are likely to be successful. However, the economically weaker sections of the population will need special help to benefit from 5G technologies. Clearly, it is this segment of population living in smaller towns and villages that require special attention from India’s 5G initiatives, the report said.