The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) organised a workshop on ‘Enabling 5G in India’ on May 1, 2019. The workshop was held with the idea of deliberating and ideating on the issues related to 5G and its rollout in the country. The workshop also hosted discussions on 5G use cases and the commercial, regulatory and infrastructural requirements and implications of these use-cases. Trai chairman, Ram Sewak Sharma took to the stage for the inaugural address of the workshop and spoke about the importance of the timely launch of 5G services. The official also said that scalability, inter-operability, frugality, optimum utilisation of resources and convergence are vital for the success of 5G ecosystem in India.
5G Use Cases to Differ from Country to Country
Further, in his address, he also highlighted that since 5G would have varied stakeholding, the licensing regime would also need to be widened. Most discussions during the workshop revolved around how the 5G use cases would be different for different countries depending on the economy, development and more factors. The people present at the workshop also emphasised that rollout of 5G would require a more harmonised spectrum and moving to higher frequency bands to enhance capacity, which would also become a prerequisite. The discussions also brought to surface another fact that the backhaul should also be ready to handle the kind of data volume which would come with 5G in India. Currently, Microwave and Fibre are providing backhaul solutions for 5G services. It is also critical that E-band be opened up in the country at the earliest.
The workshop also covered topics like how the fiberisation and small cell deployment for densification of the network will be carried out in India. The officials present there also asserted that RoW permission, access to street infrastructure and other approvals would need to be done in a hastened manner. Further, deliberations were made on security on the 5G network to rule out any chances of vulnerability.
5G to Make Huge Economic Impact in India: Trai
It is worth noting that in the workshop conducted by Trai on May 1, 2019, The Secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Secretary, Ministry of Information Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) were the special guests. The workshop also witnessed the presence of Trai secretary, chairman and members. The entire seminar was divided into six sessions, and both national and international experts presented their thoughts. Various stakeholders of the industry and representatives from government entities like DoT, MietY, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Technology companies, Telecom Service Providers, Infrastructure providers, Industry Associations were also present during the workshop.
The officials also spoke about how 5G has the potential of creating a huge economic impact. On those lines, the officials emphasised that 5G should be indigenous and inclusive. The workshop provided a platform for all the stakeholders and related representatives from the country to understand the implications of the new technology, use cases and the issues so that they will be able to take timely action to enable implementation of 5G.
