01 December 2023

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), spectrum in the 6GHz band is needed to enable nationwide 5G coverage without sacrificing data speeds and allocating it for WiFi use would be wasting it.

COAI has been pushing India’s Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to release more mid-band spectrum to support further 5G rollouts. The DoT has currently only released 720MHz of mid-band spectrum, and the 6GHz band isn’t available in its next planned 5G auction. However, COAI says the 6GHz band could provide another 1200 MHz that telcos could use to help expand 5G coverage nationwide. A 2022 study from the GSMA reported that 5G needs at least 2GHz of mid-band spectrum to be able to support download speeds of 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50Mbps.

“If you want a good 5G, you need 2GHz. And to get that 2 GHz, we are looking at 6 GHz spectrum band because there, exactly 1200 MHz is available,” said COAI director general SP Kochhar. “So, we are saying that this is uncluttered, you have not used it up anywhere, so give it to us.”

However, that puts telcos at odds with WiFi companies who want the 6GHz band to remain unlicenced – like 2.4Ghz and 5GHz – for WiFi usage. The latest WiFi standard, WiFi 6E, is designed to enable WiFi 6 to operate in the 6GHz band.

“The government has given 2.4GHz and 5.2GHz as a free spectrum. Have they used it fully? They will not be able to use 6GHz also. They will keep it and use it as and when required,” said Kochlar.