Telecom service providers will approach the telecom department in order to persuade the officials not to adopt India-specific 5G standards as this might increase the cost of 5G phones by 30-40% and affect business in the country adversely.
Telecom giants will soon write to the central government urging adoption of International Telecom Union (ITU) approved 5G network standards to leverage the global 5G ecosystem and ensure the cost-effective rollout of 5G, The Economic Times reported.
Apart from standards, adoption of India-specific 5G radio interface technology (RIT) could also be opposed as it could cause interoperability issues for overseas Indian users and foreigners, the report added.
Explaining the cost angle, a top executive of one of India’s biggest telcos said that handset makers will have to design and make phones separately specifically for the Indian market to adhere to country-specific standards which would ultimately increase cost and lower volume of production.
However, TSDSI (Telecom Standards Development Society India) Chairman Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi told the paper there is “no rationale to claim the cost impact associated with the enhancement being proposed” as it needs only software change.
The proposed TSDSI standards include deploying 5G in 3.4 GHz band and fixing the inter-site distance between mobile towers at 12 km.
“Both 3GPP-only and TSDSI-compliant phones cost nearly the same and will also coexist and interoperate in networks all over the world,” Ramamurthi pointed out.