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TRAI’s Recommendations for 5G Airwaves

Posted on April 18, 2022 by admin1  61

In News

Recently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) has recommended cutting spectrum prices for 5G airwaves by 35-40 percent.

Current Issue

  • It has not gone down well with the companies and the industry associations, who had called for up to 90 percent reduction.
  • Industry body Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) expressed deep disappointment over TRAI’s recommendations on 5G and termed the spectrum pricing suggested by the regulator as “too high”.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)

  • It was constituted in 1995 as a registered, non-governmental society. 
  • Focus: The Association is dedicated to:
    • The advancement of modern communication through the establishment of world-class mobile infrastructure, products and services and 
    • To deliver the benefits of innovative and affordable mobile communication services to the people of India.
  • Membership: COAI’s core membership includes private Telecom Service Providers, namely – Bharti Airtel LimitedVodafone Idea Limited and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, operating across the whole country.

Recommendations by TRAI

  • Sell all available spectrum in the forthcoming auctions, instead of allocating some of it as the industry had demanded. 
  • A base price of Rs 317 crore per MHz for the most used band of 3300-3670 MHz. 
  • The time period for which the band can be kept is limited to 20 years, and if the airwaves are sold for 30 years, the base price will be multiplied by 1.5 times.
  • The interested players may be allowed to set up private networks for enterprise use.

Image Courtesy: LM 

Concerns on Recommendations

  • High Price of 5G spectrum: Telecom industry body COAI has expressed disappointment at the prices. Price recommended by TRAI was too high despite extensive consultations with them. 
  • Time period: The regulator’s move to recommend these prices only for 20 years, despite the government’s decision to allocate any new spectrum auctioned for 30 years “defied logic”.
  • Meagre Cut in Prices: Owing to the one-and-a-half-time multiplier that TRAI has suggested if spectrum is purchased for 30 years, the effective cut in prices would be in the range of just 3-10 per cent, which is much lower than the industry demand of 90 per cent.
  • Oversupply: Making all spectrum available for sale in the forthcoming auctions would be a “case of oversupply to terrestrial telecom at the cost of the satellite industry”.
  • Private network: The TRAI’s recommendation to allow private captive networks would “dramatically alter” the industry’s dynamics and hurt the financial health of the telecom sector.
    • Private networks once again disincentives the telecom industry to invest in networks and continue paying high levies and taxes.

5G Spectrum Bands

  • About 5G Technology:
    • It is the latest upgrade in the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks with reduced latency than 4G.
      • 5G technology offers an extremely low latency rate, the delay between the sending and receiving information.
      • From 200 milliseconds for 4G, 5G brings it down to 1 millisecond(1ms).
  • It works in three bands of the spectrum with their respective pros and cons.
    • Low Band Spectrum
      • It shows great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange with a maximum speed limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
      • Telcos can use and install it for commercial cellphone users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet.
      • It may not be optimal for the specialised needs of the industry.
    • Mid-Band Spectrum
      • It offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
      • It may be used by industries and specialised factory units for building captive networks that can be moulded into the needs of that particular industry.
    • High-Band Spectrum
      • It offers the highest speed of all three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
      • Internet speeds have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second).
  • Importance: Operators will use a combination of different spectrum bands to deliver 5G services, and it will play a critical role in determining the speed and range of coverage.

Image Courtesy: Nokia 

 

Benefits of 5G

  • It will enable the development, testing and proliferation of 5G technology system components, cross-sectoral use cases, besides setting up the foundation for the development of the “6G Technology landscape” in the country.
  • The users will be able to stream videos with multiple camera angles during sports matches or even play immersive video games using VR headsets or other accessories.
  • It will also enable a mesh of connected Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices and services with zero-fail rate, as in the case of connected cars.
  • Other Benefits 
    • Healthcare: Healthcare providers can create sensor networks to track patients and share information faster than ever before.
    • Public Safety: A vast network and rapid response times mean that public works can respond to incidents and emergencies in seconds rather than minutes, and municipalities can react fast and with reduced costs.
    • Autonomous Vehicles: 5G will allow vehicles to communicate between them and with infrastructure on the road, improving safety and alerting drivers to travel conditions and performance information.

Source: TH |IE

 
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