File photo of 5G symbol set against circuitry | photo credit: Reuters
Industry body COAI on Wednesday said it is important to identify the 6 GHz band for mobile services, and for rapid and cost-effective deployment of mid-band 5G mobile networks providing wider coverage and capacity.
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If IMT is not allocated enough spectrum in the 6 GHz band, the country will have to account for about 60 per cent higher annual cost to achieve the target. 5G services expected to perform,
COAI cautioned that this would delay expansion and lead to a significant increase in energy consumption and radio network costs.
The association also emphasized that the 6 GHz spectrum is critical for India to achieve the goals of the National Broadband Mission.
“The industry firmly believes that identifying the 6 GHz band for IMT services is important not only because it will aid in long-term network planning, but also because 6 GHz is the ultimate mid-band opportunity offering at least 2 GHz of contiguous provisioning. mid-band spectrum, which will become critically essential for mobile communications from 2025 onwards,” SP Kochhar, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), said in a statement.
The association stated that 6 GHz is the only mid-band spectrum range where a contiguous bandwidth in the order of 300–400 MHz per operator is feasible to provide for rapidly evolving demands by 2030.