Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia announced on Friday that 320 MHz of spectrum would be immediately available following the Cabinet's approval of spectrum refarming, addressing the telecom industry's needs. Speaking at the Digicom Summit 2025, organised by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the minister highlighted significant developments in the country's telecom infrastructure.
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Spectrum Refarming
"We have approved refarming of 687 MHz. Which means this takes us from 900 MHz to 1,587 MHz. 320 MHz spectrum will be released immediately, some by the end of next year, and some by the end of 2028-29, which makes us ready for 2030," Scindia said. He added that the country would require 2000 MHz of spectrum by 2030, as per the International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT).
The cabinet decision brings the total quantum of radio waves to 1,587 MHz. "Now, between 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, we have roughly about 900 megahertz (MHz). That means that we have a deficit of 1100 megahertz (MHz) spectrum by 2030, not today," he said, according to reports.
On Thursday, the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister approved the refarming of over 1,100 MHz of spectrum from various ministries and departments, including Defence, and Information and Broadcasting, to bolster the country's telecom infrastructure.
"687 megahertz of spectrum to be reformed which takes us from 900 MHz to 1587 MHz," Scindia said, acknowledging a remaining gap of approximately 313 MHz. He also noted that the second round of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) would review the shortfall and deliver a report to ensure the continued growth of India's digital telecom ecosystem.
India's Rapid 5G Rollout
According to an ET report, Scindia also highlighted India's rapid rollout of 5G services, earning it the distinction of being the fastest in the world. "It was possible in 22 months. With 4.5 lakh BTSes, 99 percent of districts covered, and 82 percent of population covered about purity."
Further, he said that India embarked on Atmanirbhar (self-reliance) ambition which was challenging. There are only four countries in the world that have their technology. It took us a little over two years, he added, the report said.
COAI Welcomed Spectrum Refarming
Telecom carriers, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, led by industry group, the COAI welcomed the decision, saying it would boost 5G services.
COAI Director General S P Kochhar praised the Government's decision, saying that "The ongoing exercise for refarming spectrum for IMT services by a Committee of Secretaries has been completed in the first phase, and that the Cabinet has approved the reallocation of 687 MHZ of spectrum for IMT."
"The COAI has forcefully and logically propagated that the Indian ecosystem requires 2000 MHz of spectrum for IMT, and we are very happy to note from the Minister's address that this quantity has been accepted by the Cabinet under the advice of the Minister of Communications and that they have already allocated the spectrum that takes our holding to 320 MHz in the first phase, thus leaving a deficit of around 400 MHz which should be made up in the subsequent submissions by the Committee of Secretaries, to the cabinet," Kochhar added.
"It is extremely heartening to know that concrete steps have been taken and are being taken to firstly, recognize our demand of 2000 MHz for the IMT band, and actually taking strategic steps to allocate part of it to IMT immediately and continue this exercise so that 2000 MHz can be achieved," he further added.
"This will enable rollout and providing of better 5G services to the entire nation at large, which is the broad aim of the Government and the industry. COAI thanks the MOC for choosing the Digicom Summit 2025 platform to make these important announcement and we look forward to working together to further fill up the gaps that will propel the 5G services to the optimum level," Kochhar concluded.
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Broadband India Forum’s Concerns
However, the Broadband India Forum (BIF) holds an opposing view, according to another ET report. On Friday, the broadband policy think tank reportedly opposed the government's move to refarm the 1,100 MHz spectrum to meet the growing needs of 5G services.
According to the report, BIF expressed alarm over the decision to refarm the 1100 MHz spectrum and allocate the upper 6GHz spectrum for IMT services. It urged the government to reconsider this move.
"The IMT in the 6GHz band not only cannot meet the advanced requirements of digitalisation of the key sectors of the economy in manufacturing, agriculture, health, and education etc., but also poses a grave security threat to our nation in the outsourcing of requisite telecom infrastructure equipment to predominantly a non-trusted country or source," TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum (BIF) reportedly said.
Conversely, BIF said, "If the lower 6GHz spectrum band is given for IMT, it is unlikely to have any operator bidding for this band due to lack of global ecosystem for IMT in this band, and is unlikely to emerge for at least the next decade."
Ramachandran reportedly said that the delicensed 6GHz could easily meet the requirement, as the ecosystem for the same is globally available and deployed in over 84 countries. "We strongly urge the government to immediately delicense the lower 500 Mhz band of 6 GHz band and an additional 160 MHz from the 300 Mhz held back till 2030," he said.
