India's Jio wants to use E-band for mobility services – reports

India's largest service provider, Reliance Jio, has written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) asking it to broaden the use of the E-band (71GHz to 76GHz) spectrum to provide access services, while continuing to use it for backhaul, according to media reports. This spectrum was administratively allotted by DoT to telcos last year to help them with 5G backhaul.

According to the reports, Jio suggests that E-band spectrum can be used for providing high-speed broadband in areas where laying fiber is challenging. It also believes this aligns with the recent technological developments globally and 3GPP standards.

This comes close to the expected consultation paper to be issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the allocation methodology of E- and V-band spectrum.

While fiber is preferred for 5G backhaul, it is not practical or cost-effective for remote and difficult-to-reach areas. India also suffers from a massive problem of fiber cuts and challenges related to the right of way (RoW) issues, making fiber deployment impractical.

Enter big tech

The E-band spectrum has emerged as a solution to these problems because it supports much higher capacity compared to traditional bands. This is crucial as traffic continues to grow, demanding better capacity from backhaul networks. It supports throughputs of 10 Gbit/s with low latency, making it perfect for 5G transport networks.

Several countries, including Germany and France, have used the E-band spectrum to roll out 5G services. ABI Research says that it expects the global number of basestation E-band links to increase from around 400,000 in 2022 to more than 2.5 million in 2027, thus connecting around one third of the total wireless backhaul links.

Typically, the backhaul spectrum is administratively allotted to service providers. In India, telcos are keen for this spectrum to be auctioned while the technology companies, like Google and Meta, want the E-band and V-band spectrum (57GHz to 64GHz) to be delicensed. The service providers believe that if the E-band and V-band spectrum is administratively allocated to technology firms, it will allow them to provide high-speed voice and data services, thus impacting their return on investment.

While TRAI has previously used the same approach for both E-band and V-band spectrum, it is possible they will be treated differently in the upcoming consultation paper. With the possibility of using the E-band spectrum for providing access/mobility services, it is likely that this spectrum will be auctioned. However, the V-band spectrum can still be administratively allocated, although India has yet to decide what approach it will take.