- The critical 5G applications may fail if sufficient bandwidth is not provided
- At least 800 Mhz should be made available in a frequency band above 6 GHz band per operator for the deployment of basic 5G services
- 26 GHz band has most of the 5G ecosystem equipment developed
According to a recent report by PTI, industry experts think that the spectrum demand of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is likely to hit the rollout of 5G services in India.
ISRO wants to use a 26 GHz band, in which the 5G ecosystem has been developed and the Department of Telecom has accepted their demand. The Department of Telecom has submitted a proposal to the International Telecommunications Union. The proposal allows the use of a 26 GHz band for mobile services and also ensures that the 5G services will not interfere with satellite operations.
What industry thinks?
COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told PTI that the power condition per base station proposed by the government is lower than that used for wifi hotspots. It will be very difficult to transmit voice at this limit.
One of the R&D official told the news daily that DoT will have only around 1.25 to 1.5 GHz of spectrum in 26 GHz for 5G services in total. An operator will require at least 1 GHz of spectrum in the higher frequency band, proposed 26 GHz band at present, to roll out 5G as stated by ITU. The critical 5G applications may fail if sufficient bandwidth is not provided.
He further stated that the 5G network is designed to meet both the requirement which is why the need for 1 GHz has been stated in ITU documents. At least 800 Mhz should be made available in a frequency band above 6 GHz band per operator for the deployment of basic 5G services. At present, 26 GHz band has most of the 5G ecosystem equipment developed.
He also highlighted that the 5G base station will be able to cover only 25-30 meter distance based on limitation of tilted BTS and low power requirement. If this proposal is accepted by ITU than the deployment of 5G in 26 GHz band will be 4-5 times more expensive than the rest of the world.
