The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a telecom industry body has again shared its views on the direct spectrum allocation to enterprises for private 5G. As expected, COAI, a body which represents Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi). The body said that this move is not tenable for the India's telecom ecosystem.
"COAI believes that direct spectrum allocation to enterprises is not tenable in India because of various reasons pertaining to India’s telecom ecosystem, the national revenue as well as security architecture," the industry body said.
Read More - Asus Vivobook S16 Launched in India: Price and Specs
COAI mentioned that there are industry bodies which are saying that in other countries this is already happening. India won't be suitable for this. COAI said, "While some industry bodies have, in their own interests, drawn parallels with countries such as the US, Finland, Germany, UK, etc. where private networks have been deployed, this comparison ignores a crucial contextual difference of such industries being located in remote or geographically secluded areas with limited public network coverage. In India, however, most industrial corridors and enterprise zones are already well-served by telecom operators, thereby leaving no coverage deficit."
It is also worth noting here that telecom operators setting up the private networks will be more cost-effective for the enterprises. This is because the telcos already have invested lakhs of crores in building telecom networks and setting up infrastructure. The enterprises need to do this from scratch.
Read More - Vivo V60 5G India Launch Tomorrow: Check its Camera
"It is further misleading to state that setting up private networks independently would be cheaper for enterprises as in reality, deploying a private 5G network entails significant capital expenditure on equipment, spectrum management, security, network maintenance and skilled personnel. Unlike TSPs, most enterprises do not have the expertise or scale to manage telecom infrastructure efficiently," COAI added.
Further, COAI wants that multinational enterprises which are not based out of India should not get the right to manage private networks as this poses a threat on the country's national security.
