Availability of adequate spectrum could be a dampener for effective roll out of 5G services in the country. While each operator will need blocks of at least 80-100Mhz to offer real 5G services, there is still no clarity on how much bandwidth will be put up for auctions later this year.

According to industry sources, spectrum for 5G services is available only in 700 Mhz and 3300-3600 Mhz bands. However, only about 35 units of spectrum is available in the 700 MHz band, and barely 175 units are available in the 3300-3600 Mhz band. “This will be enough for just two players. The Centre should convince the Department of Space and the Defence forces to allow more commercial usage in these frequency bands,” said an industry expert.

According to another source, the Defence forces have asked for nearly 100 Mhz spectrum in 3300-3400 MHz band and 3400-3425 MHz band has been reserved for ISRO. This means about 175 MHz of spectrum is currently available in this band for 5G services.

“5G requires a minimum of 100 MHz block . Anything less, will not find be attractive for operators.There has to be a more efficient way of handling the request from the Defence forces,” said Rajan Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India.

In South Korea, for example, operators have been given blocks of 100 MHz each for 5G services. BK Syngal, former Chairman of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (now Tata Communications), said “When customer base increases, demand will increase. If the demand grows, there'll not be enough spectrum. Government should have some buffer for the future. Typically, you need at least 100MHz bandwidth for good 5G coverage. If the plan is not implemented properly, then we'll end up getting into a messy situation where customers will have 5G but not 5G speeds.”

“Government should also look at releasing more of 700MHz band, which is very good for indoor coverage. A 35-70Mhz block will not be enough to offer good 5G services.

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