Excluding Chinese companies, India gives go-ahead for 5G technology trials

DoT has made it clear that none of TSP will be using technologies of Chinese entities to conduct 5G trials. Even DoT has not permitted any Chinese company to conduct 5G trials in India.

 

"The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) approved today permissions to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for conducting trials for use and applications of 5G technology. The applicant TSPs include Bharti Airtel Ltd, Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd, Vodafone Idea Ltd, and MTNL," DoT said in a statement.

 

 

These TSPs have tied up with original equipment manufacturers and technology providers which are Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and C-DOT. In addition, Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd. will also be conducting trials using its indigenous technology.

 

 

The permissions have been given by DoT as per the priorities and technology partners identified by TSPs themselves. The experimental spectrum is being given in various bands which include the mid-band (3.2 GHz to 3.67 GHz), the millimeter-wave band (24.25 GHz to 28.5 GHz), and in Sub-Gigahertz band (700 GHz). TSPs will also be permitted to use their existing spectrum owned by them (800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2500 MHz) for the conduct of 5G trials.

 

In the permission letter, DoT has underlined that TSP will have to conduct trials in rural and semi-urban settings also in addition to urban settings so that the benefit of 5G Technology proliferates across the country and is not confined only to urban areas.

According to the press release, DoT has specified that the trials will be isolated and not connected with the existing networks of TSPs. Trials will be on a non-commercial basis.

 

TSPs are also expected to facilitate the testing of the indigenously developed use cases and equipment as part of the trials. One hundred applications/ use cases selected by DoT after conducting the recent Hackathon on 5G applications can also be facilitated in these trials.