NEW DELHI: To improve last-mile connectivity in India’s broadband sector, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged govt to expeditiously notify the rule amendments enabling standard power operations in the delicensed lower 6 GHz band. An expert committee constituted by dept of telecom, that was led by IIT Madras’s Professor Radha Krishna Ganti had recommended enabling higher-power outdoor use at 36 dBm in the 5925–6425 MHz band. The industry has asked the telecom ministry to implement the same “without further delay”.COAI DG Lt Gen (retired) S P Kochhar said: “India’s broadband sector has progressed significantly, yet last-mile connectivity gaps persist particularly in rural, semi-urban, and difficult-to-reach areas due to Right-of-Way (RoW) challenges, limited fibre availability and high deployment costs. The expert committee’s recommendation to permit Standard Power (36 dBm) outdoor use of the lower 6 GHz delicensed band (5925–6425 MHz) remains a practical and cost-effective solution to this challenge — one that is yet to be operationalised through the necessary regulatory notification.”“Fixed wireless access (FWA) and point-to-multi-point (P2MP) deployments at standard power are suited for last-mile broadband delivery where fibre penetration is absent, economically unviable or physically impractical. Enabling outdoor Standard Power operations ensures this 500 MHz of valuable delicensed spectrum is fully harnessed in service of national objectives and can be utilised by all service providers,” Kochhar said.COAI says once implemented, this move will not only expand broadband coverage but also substantially improve broadband utilisation, bringing high-quality, high-speed connectivity to homes, enterprises and institutions “that have long remained on the wrong side of the digital divide.”
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“Enabling these operations will ensure that India’s delicensed spectrum serves not just indoor enterprise and consumer Wi-Fi but becomes a genuine engine of rural broadband penetration and digital inclusion. Several months since the Expert Committee submitted its report, COAI earnestly requests the DoT to expedite the notification of the necessary rule amendments enabling Standard Power (36 dBm) outdoor operations in the lower 6 GHz band (5925-6425 MHz) for P2MP/P2P, so as to enable licensed and authorised entities to deploy these capabilities and bring the transformative benefits of high-quality, affordable broadband to every segment of our society,” he added.
