Telecom service providers (TSPs) on Wednesday have recommended to the government that it allocate 6 GHz band in international mobile telecommunications (IMT), as this will maximise economic and societal benefits, while reducing the capex and driving affordable consumer broadband.
“In case adequate spectrum in the 6 GHz band is not allocated to IMT, the country will have to account for around 60 per cent higher annual costs to achieve the performance expected from 5G services, and this would lead to delayed expansions, and significant increase in energy consumption and radio network cost,” SP Kochhar, Director General, Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) said.
Critical for IMT services
The industry believes that it is critical to identify the 6 GHz band for IMT services because it will not only aid in long-term network planning but also because 6 GHz is the last mid-band opportunity offering a provision of minimum 2GHz contiguous mid-band spectrum, which will become critically essential for mobile communications beyond 2025, he said.
“Since mid-bands offer wide coverage and capacity, they are critical for rapid and cost-efficient deployments of 5G mobile networks. This is established by the fact that of the 176 global 5G networks rolled out, around 70 per cent (around 120 networks) have harnessed mid-bands,” Kochhar said.
Slower downloading
In the absence of the required additional mid-band spectrum, mobile networks will need to be substantially densified by increasing the number of base stations to deliver 5G data rate targets. If TSPs don’t do so, 5G download speeds will be reduced to 50 per cent if less spectrum is allocated in the 6 GHz band, or 80 per cent if only 700 MHz band is allocated to IMT, compared to an assignment of 1.2 GHz, the industry body noted.
“With the National Broadband Mission targeting broadband speeds up to 50 Mbps by 2024-25, COAI recommends that the most optimal allocation for the country in the 6 GHz band would be to identify the entire 5925-7125 MHz ie, 1200 MHz spectrum in the 6 GHz band for IMT applications,” Kochhar added.
