TRAI Releases Consultation Paper Focusing on E & V Spectrum Bands

trai releases consultation paper focusing on e

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on “Assignment of Spectrum in E&V Bands, and Spectrum for Microwave Access (MWA) & Microwave Backbone (MWB).” The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had asked the sector regulator to recommend the applicable reserve price, spectrum cap, scope of services/usages, methodology of auction, payment terms, block size, band plan, and more for the E & V spectrum bands.

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Note that the E band spectrum falls between 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz and the V band spectrum falls between 57-64 GHz. Because these are super high-frequency bands, they can enable super-high bandwidths. Telcos have already been using the E-band spectrum for backhaul purposes. It is more cost-efficient in cases where fiber can’t reach.

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DoT also asked the regulator for how much quantum of the E & V bands should be reserved for non-commercial or captive networks. TRAI has said that written statements on the issues raised in the consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by October 25, 2023, and counter-comments by November 8, 2023.

It is worth noting that Reliance Jio recently asked for the E-band to be made available for commercial service purposes. While the E-band spectrum was administratively allocated to the telcos in 2022 for backhaul purposes, that should not be the case in the future believes Jio. Tech companies have suggested that E and V spectrum bands should be delicensed. But this is not something that the telcos believe in.