Bharti Airtel, MD, Gopal Vittal has called on the government to bundle coveted airways in the E-band which is considered ideal for mobile backhaul networks with 5G spectrum, saying that a failure to do so will jeopardize India’s 5G ambitions. He also called on the government to allocate sub-GHz spectrum in due 700 MHZ band for free, likely around May-June this year.
Vittal stated, “Let’s take one particular spectrum band, say 700 MHZ, and allocate that with very stringent obligations to connect every part of the country, free of cost”. Spectrum in the E band between 71-76 GHZ and 81-86 GHz is ideal for strong mobile networks, to enable operators to upgrade to 5G ready technology. These airwaves can transmit data at super speeds of around 1000 megabits per second.
Backhaul connects the core of the mobile networks to nodes and then onto towers, to transmit data. E band can be used as an alternative to fiber which requires manpower, maintenance, permissions from national and local bodies, plus a huge chunk of investments. Vittal further said, “Backhaul is absolutely essential”. E band spectrum he said can enable large amounts of broadband networks from mobile towers, to carry broadband traffic.
Unfortunately, he said, “this spectrum is sitting with the government for too long now and nothing has been done till date to allocate it to the players”.