Question : Delicensing of Airwaves in E and V Bands

(a) whether the Government has taken cognizance of reports of telecom companies seeking to cease the delicensing of airwaves in the E&V bands for operating public Wi-Fi space, through the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;

(b) the details of different spectrum bands that can be used for providing public Wi-Fi hotspots, along with the problems in using the currently unlicensed 2.4 GHz to 5.8 GHz spectrum for the same; and

(c) the details of the loss to Government exchequer in case of decreasing of E&V bands?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) Government has received the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendation dated 29.08.2014 on “Allocation and Pricing of Microwave Access (MWA) and Microwave Backbone (MWB) RF Carriers” which also includes recommendations on E and V bands.
Among others, TRAI has recommended that E band and V band should be opened with “light touch regulation” and allotment should be on a “link to link basis”.
Government sought certain clarifications which were provided by the TRAI vide their response dated 17th November, 2015. TRAI has clarified in its response dated 17.11.2015, among others, that V band should be delicensed for indoor and outdoor based access applications like Wi-Fi hotspots etc.
Certain industry associations submitted their views in favour of allowing the delicensed use of V band, whereas Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has written to the Government against the delicensing of the V band. COAI supports the allocation of E and V bands to the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) only.
The above suggestions of the industry and the recommendations of TRAI are being deliberated in the Department of Telecommunications.

(b) The frequency bands which are currently permitted for delicensed use for providing public Wi-Fi hotspots and individual use are as below:
i. 2400-2483.5 MHz in Indoor as well as Outdoor
ii. 5825-5875 MHz in Indoor as well as Outdoor
iii. 5150-5350 MHz, 5725-5875 MHz in Indoor only

(c) No decision on de-licensing of E and/or V Band has been taken by the Government as yet. It may be presumptive at this stage to assume any loss to Government exchequer.