4G in India: COAI seeks deadline extension for the 4G network rollout by another five years

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to extend the deadline for completion of 4G network rollouts by another five years. The government had allocated 4G spectrum to telecom service providers in the auction in 2010, with specific rollout targets for the spectrum winners.

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The operators were supposed to achieve the network rollout within a five-year period which expires in 2015. In case telecom operators fail to meet the deadline of 2015, DoT will impose penalties on the companies.

“DoT is requested to review and relax the roll out obligations and extend the timelines for meeting the roll out by additional 5 years,” said Rajan S Mathews, COAI Director General in a letter to DoT. The Telecom industry body has cited difficulties in rolling out the LTE-TDD (a 4G technology) as among reasons for delay in roll out of 4G services.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is industry lobby group that represents telcos that use the GSM technology platform. In 2010, six private operators and the two state-run telcos collectively paid almost Rs.40,000 crore for spectrum in the 2300MHz band to start 4G networks using the so-called TDD LTE (time-division duplex long-term evolution) technology standard.

Earlier this year, in the February spectrum auction, a number of telcos bought airwaves in the 1800MHz band to start 4G services using the FDD LTE (frequency division duplex-LTE) standard, which has ostensibly developed much faster than the rival TDD LTE standard. As a standard rule, all spectrum bought in the auction is valid for 20 years.