BWA Auction For 700 MHz Will Be Fierce

Right now, 3G (HSPA) is neither a choice for affordable wireless broadband, nor a choice for last mile connectivity in rural areas.

But if everything goes perfect, we can see affordable broadband with wireless access a reality. Because Govt plans for another bonanza – conducting auction for 700Mhz band.

India has about 108 units of airwaves in the 700 MHz band 50% of which is used by Doordarshan, 36 units are used by armed forces and remaining 24 MHz is held by other government agencies.

Govt. of India plans to auction 700MHz spectrum in 2012, following digitalization of Doordarshan at the end of 2011. Defence forces may also vacate spectrum in 700 Mhz band along with 45MHz spectrum (of which 25MHz is 3G spectrum) following the roll out of optic fibre cable (OFC) made by BSNL.

It also starts tussle between DoT and ministry of Information and Broadcast regarding vacating of this airwave. Ministry of I&B claimed that the spectrum in 700 Mhz is reserved for public broadcaster Doordarshan (DD). But it is expected I&B ministry will come to a point and DoT has to bear the expenses of digitalization of Doordarshan like they did to roll out OFC for defence forces.

LTE rollout on 700Mhz band can revolutionize growth of internet in India, as due to lower frequencies it can propagate and penetrate better and can offer more spectrally efficient service (due to more bits/Hz). LTE base on 2.3 Ghz can cover around 2-5 Km radius area while LTE base on 700Mhz can cover upto 15Km radius area. The higher band is better for high capacity, dense deployments.

Even cost of LTE roll out on 700 Mhz will be one-third of LTE on 2.3GHz. For these reasons LTE on 700 Mhz is better choice for wireless broadband in rural areas. Verizon recently announced that test runs on its LTE network using 700 MHz spectrum was giving peak speeds of around 25Mbps.

This auction will also kill the dream of WiMAX forum to roll out WiMAX in India. As technically TD-LTE is the choice of technology for this band. Importantly LTE ecosystem is getting stronger day by day, after one year of commercial roll out in Norway & Sweden now there are 19 LTE networks up and running, with 6 smartphones, 6 notebooks/netbooks, 7 mobile tablets, and 22 modules expected to be available this year. Currently BSNL & Reliance are only players offering WiMaX in selected areas, and BSNL’s plan to roll out WiMAX on a franchiese basis has been under controvercy.

Largest private telco, Bharti Airtel (got BWA license in just 4 circles) is lobbying for auction of this band. It has stated openly that its 4G strategy will rest mainly on future allocations in 700MHz and FDD 2.5GHz along with experiment with these four circles.

It is expected loosers of 3G/BWA auction like Tata Tele, Vodafone, Idea Cellular (aims to be a pan India ISP) and Telenor/Uninor (who did not take part in 3G auction), Sistema/MTS (given they prioritze data services) will also take part in it. Even Infotel, current pan India BWA winner on 2.3GHz band which is now subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani headed Reliance Industries is expected to participate it. In 2008, the US government raised close to $20 billion by auctioning three blocks of spectrum in the 700 MHz band. Indian government can expect more because of the fierce competition between more players.

But it is also obvious that private telcos has little social responsibilities like BSNL has, and they will not go for rural wireless broadband. Whatever auction happens or not, I strongly believe BSNL must be awarded 700 Mhz airwave to roll out LTE specially for rural areas to bring wireless broadband to the remote parts of the country.

saurabh jain April 5, 2011 at 3:00 am

even God Bless Dot . Spectrum auction will not happen till 2014 or 2015, becz slow pace of Gov machinery. This spectrum is most most important for India, so it should not be priced like 3G , it must be auctioned after Good 3G roll out , otherwise everybody bought the spectrum and roll out one city in a day

selvam March 28, 2011 at 11:11 pm

@DB very good man u r the right person in the place of our PM …wat he made u want to make…i think u will be in a city..if u r in rural u will not speak like this…BSNL only fulfilling the requirement of RURAL…u like fellows want to enjoy the benefits from the GOVT but want GOVT sectors to loose.. wat a pitty INDIANS..SHAME

MaNoJ March 28, 2011 at 1:25 pm

Hope it will help to get cheaper Internet solution for all and will be affordable for all.

madhu prasad March 28, 2011 at 11:41 am

Its pity that being the leader in IT, India has the worst internet connection with most expensive tariff.

Pratap Madgulkar March 28, 2011 at 11:37 am

“BSNL must be awarded 700 Mhz airwave to roll out LTE specially for rural areas to bring wireless broadband to the remote parts of the country.”

totally agree .. Internet should reach to every person . so they can get more knowledge and efficiency will increase

ARJUN March 28, 2011 at 10:55 am

@Amit.G
Strongly Agree, AirTel’s Ego Increasing Day By Day. Dangerous Network, I Think Sunil Bharti Mittal is Drinking Radiowave Spectrum as a Cool Drink

rajiev March 28, 2011 at 10:37 am

Manoj Abhigyan :

Amit.G :
Govt should not allow winners of 2.3 mhz to participate. This is for 2 reasons.
1. Again auctioning will be very competitive and these operators will bid like anything just what they did with 3G.
2. If they win by paying huge money then it is ultinmately the customers who should bear the high tariffs just like current 3G tariffs. I personally hate airtel’s stratergy as it is shelling huge money to capture each n every segment so that others wont get a chance n it will become a monopolistic.

Tatally agree with you. I personally hate airtel’s stratergy as it is shelling huge money to capture each n every segment so that others wont get a chance n it will become a monopolistic.

that’s why airtel network is strong!

DB March 28, 2011 at 10:08 am

@Manoj Abhigyan

@ MANOJ, BSNL should be the *LAST* to be given spectrum … if you look at 3G they had a headstart of 2-3 years before private operators, STILL could not get the required (targetted) subscriber numbers … after MNP they are among the BIGGEST LOSERS … 2nd only to RELIANCE.

So if we want INDIA to leap frog into 4G KEEP BSNL OUT OF 700 MHZ !!!

Amit.G March 28, 2011 at 7:22 am

@Raghu

@Manoj Abhigyan
Ya buddy. Because of these things now we are not able to enjoy 3G services of private operators. If uninor tata and Mts gets bwa 700mhz then its for sure that they will keep fully unlimited within 700rs. But airtel will def price for 1500.

Bk March 28, 2011 at 12:29 am

What happened to the Bwa auction winners in the 2.3 spectrum. When are they rolling out services? One more thing, lte penetrates walls much better than wimax.

Manoj Abhigyan March 27, 2011 at 11:58 pm

Amit.G :
Govt should not allow winners of 2.3 mhz to participate. This is for 2 reasons.
1. Again auctioning will be very competitive and these operators will bid like anything just what they did with 3G.
2. If they win by paying huge money then it is ultinmately the customers who should bear the high tariffs just like current 3G tariffs. I personally hate airtel’s stratergy as it is shelling huge money to capture each n every segment so that others wont get a chance n it will become a monopolistic.

Tatally agree with you. I personally hate airtel’s stratergy as it is shelling huge money to capture each n every segment so that others wont get a chance n it will become a monopolistic.

Raghu March 27, 2011 at 11:56 pm

@Amit.G
agreed Airtel always willing to shell out huge money and in turn customers is burdened to pay the high tariffs

Amit.G March 27, 2011 at 11:41 pm

Govt should not allow winners of 2.3mhz winners to participate. this is for 2 reasons.
1. Again auctioning will be very competative and these operators will bid like anything just wat they did with 3G.
2. If they win by paying huge money then it is ultinmately the customers who should bear the high tariffs just like current 3G tariffs. i personally hate airtel’s stratergy as it is shelling huge money to capture each n every segment so that others wont get a chance n it will become a monopolistic.

amit March 27, 2011 at 7:01 pm

just hoping that it happens on the intended time i.e. 2012 itself. It should not suffer the fate of 3G as TRAI had recommended auctioning of 3G spectrum in 2006 and the same happened in 2010. keeping fingers crossed !

hj91 March 27, 2011 at 6:01 pm

hoping it dosent turn into another maha scam…! #fail

Abhijit March 27, 2011 at 6:00 pm

Let above plan come in existence as soon as possible so rural are can be benefited.. Our govt plans are very big but for implementation it takes years..

bharathkumara March 27, 2011 at 4:58 pm

its more better when 700mhz came for wimax, it coverage is more, but 2.5mhz is coverage is less

max March 27, 2011 at 3:09 pm

it will be the best option to cover pan india rural area, govt need to allocate spectrum BSNL immediately they they can allow private players with condition that they start and cover the rural area atleast 50% of there total covered area.

ARJUN March 27, 2011 at 2:44 pm

THIS WILL MAKE AN EFFECT ON TELECOM COVERAGE

Abadan Mohapatra March 27, 2011 at 2:40 pm

Well, if those who have already got 2.3 GHz license in last BWA auction win again in 700 MHz, what will they do with 2.3 GHz ? Or will they opt for 700 MHz in circles where they have missed a 2.3 GHz license ???
Someone please make it clear.

Also, how many players on an average can be accommodated on 700 MHz in a circle ?

But yeah, our very own BSNL got to directly get a 700 MHz license so that whole India can be powered with affordable wireless internet.

selvam March 27, 2011 at 2:38 pm

@Manoj Abhigyan
yes BSNL will forcibly made to give and licence fee will be taken with out any objection bcoz it is public money,by the giants like AIRtel and other pvt operators will not ready to give service to rural and they will enjoy by giving connections in urbun with out pain…the path will be smoothen and wide open to the PVT operators BY TRAI DOT etc …bcoz the officers in TRAI &DOT , they will get appoinment after their retirement with good package in that companies or will be brifed heavily once as happened in 2G spcc…HOW it is ………………..?

Mahmood Junaid March 27, 2011 at 2:20 pm

india is all set to have a data revolution.. price for broadband access will fall down soon.. subscribers will also sky rocket in the next decade…

Keshav Jha March 27, 2011 at 2:16 pm

Humein cheap aur reliable service bhi kabhi milegi ya phir sapne se hin kaam chalana padega??? Kitne dinon se sun raha hoon ye technology, wo technology….. Fayda kuchh nahin dikh raha………

Raghu March 27, 2011 at 2:12 pm

great news.

Manoj Abhigyan March 27, 2011 at 1:34 pm

Good news. At least BSNL must be awarded 700 MHz airwave to roll out LTE.

ved March 27, 2011 at 1:20 pm