Telecom industry divided on backhaul spectrum

After satellite spectrum, the telecom industry stands divided over the allocation of backhaul airwaves. While older telcos – Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – want allocation on an administrative basis or without auctions to continue, Reliance Jio is pitching for a ‘sale-to-the -highest-bidder’ mechanism as the preferred way to allocate such airwaves.
As per officials aware of the details, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has been conducting informal meetings with the telcos ahead of a consultation paper on the allocation of backhaul and E and V spectrum bands.

“It was during the informal meetings that the telcos have made their stance clear,” one of the officials told ET.

Another official added that since older telcos – Airtel and Vodafone Idea - have been using the administratively assigned backhaul carriers for a long time, they want to continue using the same frequencies and in case of an auction, that won’t be guaranteed.

However, Jio, being a new entrant, does not have the legacy backhaul carriers and has a much higher level of fiberization of towers. Hence, it wants all types of airwaves to be allocated through auction, the official said.

Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea did not respond to ET’s emails seeking comment.

Backhaul spectrum is primarily used by telecom firms to connect their different sites. Optical fibre is also used for the same purpose, so as fiberization of towers increases, the demand for backhaul carriers decreases.

Currently, frequencies in the 6/7/13/15/18/21 GHz bands are used as backhaul spectrum. Besides, E (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz) and V (57-64 GHz and 64-71 GHz) bands are also used as backhaul. For example, the E band spectrum can be used as a substitute in areas without fibre connectivity and is also considered more cost-efficient than fibre.

The spectrum in E and V bands also have the potential to provide high-speed broadband services, especially in remote areas and for better in-building coverage, underlining the call by Jio for these airwaves to be auctioned.

As per an executive with one of the older telecom firms, the radio equipment for backhaul spectrum can’t be tuned or changed easily.

“The entire equipment used for backhaul carriers may become redundant in case the same frequencies are not allocated to them. The backhaul spectrum is different from access or mobile airwaves and that should be kept in mind while deciding the allocation methodology,” said the executive.

The older telcos want their concerns around continuity of backhaul airwaves to be addressed, officials said.

The regulator is expected to soon come out with a consultation paper on allocating backhaul spectrum along with E and V bands.

Last year, while seeking the recommendations for 5G spectrum, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had also written to Trai seeking recommendations on the matter of assignment of backhaul spectrum in the existing frequencies bands of 6/7/13/15/18/21 GHz as well as E and V bands.

Backhaul spectrum used to be given to all operators administratively. But that stopped after the 2012 Supreme Court order, which backed auction as the mode of allocation of all scarce natural resources like airwaves.

The DoT has been giving backhaul spectrum provisionally to telcos to meet their requirements but with a condition that they must abide by a final decision taken by the government regarding allocation methodology of backhaul carriers. If it is decided to auction such airwaves, the telcos will have to pay the market determined price for using that spectrum.

For instance, Jio had been provisionally allocated backhaul carriers in 2016 when it started its commercial services, while backhaul airwaves of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea were renewed provisionally.

Along with backhaul spectrum, the telcos want E and V bands allocation to be done swiftly as well.

E band spectrum has the potential to provide high-speed broadband services and has similar characteristics to backhaul airwaves. Like backhaul, E-band was also provisionally allocated to telecom firms for meeting their 5G needs but with a condition that in the event the band is auctioned, they will pay the market-determined price for it.