By Chisomo Phiri On Tuesday, experts from government implementing agencies, telecommunication and broadcasting sector held a meeting in Lilongwe in preparati
Allotment of 5G trial spectrum is particularly crucial for Jio and Airtel, who already have 5G-ready networks and have recently bulked up on crucial airwaves in the recent auction to cater to the surge in data usage amid Covid and also future-proof themselves ahead of 5G rollouts.
By siliconindia | Friday, 28 May 2021, 05:41 Hrs DoT assigns 5G trial spectrum in the 700 Mhz, 3.5 Ghz and 26 Ghz bands, paving the way for Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) to associate with non-Chinese network vendors and develop India-relevant use cases on the next-gen fast wireless broadband technology. The DoT’s wireless planning & coordination (WPC) wing late Thursday evening assigned “100, 800 and 10 units of experimental 5G airwaves to the Big 3 telcos in the 3.5 Ghz, 26 Ghz and 700 Mhz bands respectively,” a senior telco executive told ET. The 5G trial airwaves have been allocated for six months, he added. Allotment of 5G trial spectrum is particularly crucial for Jio and Airtel, who already have 5G-ready networks and have recently bulked up on crucial airwaves in the recent auction to cater to the surge in data usage amid Covid and also future-proof themselves ahead of 5G rollouts.
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The wireless planning and coordination (WPC) section of India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has agreed to award a six-month allocation of spectrum in the 3.5GHz, 26GHz and 700MHz bands to the country’s three leading operators: Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vi (formerly Vodafone Idea).
Synopsis
India’s top telcos – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea have been pushing the government to auction the super-efficient mmWave bands, such as 26/28 GHz, without which, they claim, 5G services won’t be affordable for consumers.
AP Accordingly, the upcoming DoT reference could see the inclusion of mmWaves in the next spectrum sale likely to see a debut of multiple 5G bands.
The telecom department is set to approach the sector regulator later this week to suggest reserve prices for all spectrum bands recently cleared for 5G trials, in the run up to the next airwaves sale, a senior official told ET. Among the spectrum bands are the coveted millimetre waves (26/28 GHz) and 700 MHz bands.