India needs 2GHz of spectrum to provide 5G at optimum level: COAI

With the subscriber base that India has, the country needs 2GHz of spectrum to provide 5G at its optimum level. But the industry has got only 800 MHz from the last spectrum auction.

“So, there is a deficit of 1200 MHz that needs to be filled to offer the true flavour of 5G at optimum costs. The 6GHz spectrum band is the optimum solution presently and we demand for the same to be allocated,” SP Kochhar, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said on Monday.

It may be pertinent to mention that Wi-Fi proponents demanding for the same spectrum would need to utilise the present spectrum allocated, besides preparing for Wi-Fi 7, which is spectrum agnostic, he said.

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Revenue inadequate

Kochhar said that an analysis by the COAI shows that telecom service providers (TSPs) invested an additional ₹10,000 crore in 2023, to upgrade network infrastructure, primarily to handle the surge in data traffic from top large traffic generators (LTGs). But the revenue generated from this increased data traffic has been inadequate to cover the rising infrastructure costs.

“This is besides the fact that the government lost an estimated ₹800 crore in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and taxes, such as GST, due to the revenue loss caused by the top four-five LTG apps,” he noted.

‘38% of earnings goes into paying tax’

He added that COAI has been asking the government to reduce the base price of spectrum. “Currently, we pay almost 38 per cent of our earnings in tax – making us the highest taxed sector in India. Being an essential sector, which is an enabler for other sectors, telecom should be considered more rationally by the government, especially looking at its emerging role enabling other industries to perform more efficiently,” he added.

Recently, at the India Mobile Congress 2024, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that India is resolved to lead the world in 6G as the telecom sector of the country is ‘aggressive’ and ‘ambitious’.

He said that India had the fastest 5G rollout in the world, wherein 98 per cent of districts and 90 per cent of all villages were covered in a span of just 21 months.

He added that the recent changes to the Telecommunications Act 2023 have been designed in such a way so as to modernise India’s telecom framework, drawing attention to unaddressed areas such as the high potential sector of satellite communications, addressing the challenges of the digital era, the most important being cyber security.