Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) didn’t want the government to allow the enterprises to get the spectrum directly to set up captive private 5G networks. The government didn’t pay much heed to the wishes of the telcos and has allowed the enterprises to directly purchase the spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Telcos are also allowed to lease the spectrum to the enterprises to let the latter set up their own captive private 5G network. But there are rules surrounding how this can happen.
Jio, Airtel and Vi Must Give These Details to DoT After Entering a Lease Agreement
After entering into a lease agreement for spectrum, the telecom service providers must give DoT all the details of the spectrum bands, the quantum of spectrum in each band, the period for which the spectrum is leased, the geographic area of the lease and the geo-coordinates of the logical perimeter of the defined premises and the use of spectrum. All of these details must be submitted to the DoT within 15 days of entering into a lease agreement, said an ET Telecom report.
Enterprises who are leasing spectrum from the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) will also have to obtain online clearance and import certificate from the SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocation).
DoT will treat the revenues earned through leasing the spectrum as part of the telcos’ gross revenues. This means that they will be liable to pay dues on that revenue as well.
The telcos and the enterprises will have to ensure that leasing the spectrum does not result in any sort of interference to the public networks. The TSPs can also directly offer the enterprises to set up their private 5G networks through network slicing, which is now a proven use case of 5G networks globally. Enterprises require the 5G spectrum for setting up private networks for automating processes and scaling the business digitally.
