Pvt networks-The next bone of contention between telcos and IT service providers

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) and telecom operators have locked horns over allocation of 5G spectrum for establishing private networks.

Nasscom represents Indian IT services companies, some of which would potentially be exploring setting up of private networks for enterprises using 5G technology.

Licensing frameworks
In the upcoming 5G auctions, Nasscom wants the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to earmark spectrum for NPNs (non public networks, also known as private networks), which can be used by enterprise service providers such as Tech Mahindra, Infosys, ITC etc to set up local enterprise-level networks.

Telecom service providers, on the other hand, believe that licensed mobile operators are best suited to set up these private networks and therefore, they should be the ones to do so. Software and IT majors, ITC and Mavenir, as well as telecommunications equipment company Cisco also back Nasscom.

A private 5G network is a wireless local area network (LAN) that uses 5G-enabled technologies to create a network with dedicated bandwidth and infrastructure that meets a company’s specific connectivity needs.

Nasscom noted that the TRAI has different approaches to enable the setting up of private networks — using currently licenced telecom service providers, or utilising unlicensed spectrum, or earmarking licenced spectrum for private networks. The association supports the latter.

“The extant licensing framework is adequate for enabling TSPs to utilise spectrum licensed to them to offer managed NPN services through techniques such as network slicing. However, it would be unrealistic to expect that this approach alone, can serve the entire demand for enterprise NPNs for enabling Industry 4.0 use-cases in India.” said Nasscom.

‘Greater control’
Greatly preferring earmarking spectrum specifically for this purpose, Nasscom said, “Greater control over network design and spectrum management are crucial enablers for the success of NPNs across a diverse and constantly evolving set of end-use requirements. Therefore, direct licensing of earmarked spectrum, is likely to enable a greater number of usecases for NPNs, while also providing certainty to enterprises on the availability spectrum access for the duration of the licenses.”

According to Nasscom, by enabling enterprises to directly obtain licenses for spectrum use, spectrum usage can be tailored to enterprise-specific needs over a delimited geographic footprint that corresponds to their business premises. Thus, Nasscom wants the regulator to implement a combination of all approaches, with emphasis on earmarking spectrum.

Candidate bands for earmarking according to Nasscom could be 3.7 GHz/ C-Band, 3.5 GHz/ C-Band and 4.7 GHz/ CBand in the Sub 6 and 28 GHz/ LMDS, 26 GHz/ K-Band.

“Millimetre wave bands such as n257 (28 GHz) and n258 (26 GHz), despite their tendency of propagation losses, should also be considered for applications such as network backhaul.” Nasscom added.

‘More experience’
Telcos on the other hand believe that they are best suited to set up private networks and thus there is no need for earmarking spectrum.

Bharti Airtel said, “MNOs or TSPs have long years of experience in deploying spectrum efficiently and offering multiple services integrating a multitude of technologies. They will be able to deliver 5G services using low, mid-band and high-band frequency ranges to support the full range of industrial use cases across local and wide area deployments.”

“Giving someone the right to use the spectrum denies someone else the right to use it. So, for example, allocating spectrum to local licences and private networks denies this spectrum to the hundreds of millions that use mobile public networks,” said Vodafone Idea.

Reliance Jio said, “TSPs have been serving the captive networks over the years and would continue to do the same. Enterprise business contributes substantial revenue of TSPs…..Nevertheless, in case certain industries are not willing to avail TSPs services, then they should be given the option of setting up their own captive network under an appropriate Unified License authorization post acquiring spectrum in the auction.” The Hindu BusinessLine