What next after 5G? Battle over delicensing of valuable 6-GHz band

Global tech giants want the entire 1200 MHz of spectrum in this band delicensed while Indian telcos want it licensed for 5G services

Global tech companies are again bracing for a battle with Indian telecom companies, and this time it is over delicensing of the valuable 6-GHz band (5925-7125 MHz).

This comes close on the heels of telcos losing out to tech companies, after the Union Cabinet gave clearance for private captive networks.  

The department of telecom­munications (DoT) has already started consultations with stakeholders on the road map for the 6GHz spectrum and whether it needs to be delicesned. Global tech companies such as Google, Meta, Qualcomm, and Cisco (represented by the Broadband India Forum or BIF), are demanding delicensing of the entire 1,200 MHz of spectrum in this band.

Delicensing will allow the spectrum to be used for enabling new disruptive future technologies, namely, the meta­verse, augmented and virtual reality, streaming at 8K, high quality HD video which requires huge amounts of band­width on wifi (known as wifi 6E, it offer speeds which are two-and-a half times faster than existing standards) which is not possible through existing bands. 

It can also be used for offloading of mobile data onto wifi networks to reduce mobile network congestion.  

In the other camp, telcos want the entire spectrum to be licensed for 5G services. They say the band is part of the C-band which has similar properties to the 3.3-3.67 GHz and 4.8 GHz-4.98 GHz which is already identified for IMT 5G. It provides both coverage as well as the high speeds need for 5G services.

The battle being fought in India is the same as in other countries where regulators and the government are accepting two varying models. One is the US model where the entire band will be delicensed. This has been endorsed by China, Canada, South Korea, and Brazil.

The other is the European model where it has been decided to delicense 480 MHz of the lower end of  6GHz for wifi. The rest will be with telcos.

Indian telcos have put up a strong defence against delicensing, saying that unlike in the US where this spectrum is being delicensed, they are saddled with limited spectrum while dealing with a population density that is 10 times that of the US and 100 times that of Russia. Yet the spectrum available to cover such a large population is far less than what is offered in the US.  

The telcos also point out that 97 per cent of the total traffic in India is carried over wireless networks unlike most developed countries where 95 per cent of the traffic is on wireline. This difference puts huge pressure for spectrum again on mobile networks.

Their other argument is that wifi 6E and its next version wifi 7 are actually the outdoor cellular version of the network that competes with 5G and future 6G services.

They contend that, as the usage is the same, there cannot be a differential spectrum policy for the broadband telecom network using two different technologies where the latter pay an administered price for spectrum while telcos pay much higher auction prices.

Finally, they argue that delicensed spectrum is the most inefficient way to use spectrum; wasting valuable spectrum in a spectrally inefficient technology does not make any sense.

In 2018, under pressure from global tech companies, the Indian government had decided to delicense the band between 5.1 GHz to 5.9 GHz to support higher wifi speeds and help wifi hotspots in the country proliferate.

But the use of the spectrum has been very low. Nor has it helped wifi spots to increase substantially.  Consequently, why now go for more delicensing when even existing spectrum is not utilised?

None of this cuts any ice with the proponents of delicensing who say India has less than one tenth the amount of unlicensed spectrum (only 650 MHz vs 14,000 MHz) compared to other leading economies. The need is for more.

Not only that, they point out that existing mobile broadband speeds in India are one tenth of global averages (18 mbps). Besides, new disruptive technologies require large bandwidth and therefore getting 6 GHz spectrum unlicensed is vital.

WHO’S SAYING WHAT

Telcos

• Should be reserved for telcos as it has same properties as 3.3-3.6 GHz which is up for auction

• Because of high population density, India requires much more spectrum for mobile services unlike in the US

• Out of 97% of total traffic carried on mobile networks in advanced countries, 95% is on wireline. So need more spectrum

Global Tech Companies

• High bandwidth spectrum essential for powering new technologies like metaverse, AR, VR,  8K amongst others   

• India has one twenth of delicensed spectrum compared to other advanced countries. So more is needed  

• Mobile broadband speeds are one tenth of global averages

• Existing wifi spectrum does not have enough bandwith to power new technologies