Satellite Communication Providers Oppose Spectrum Sharing Proposal With Telcos: Here's Why

The 5G spectrum auction is likely to delay further as Global satellite communication providers are against allocating 28 GHz spectrum band to telcos. Hughes Network Systems, Inmarsat, and Viasat have asked DoT not to approve half of the 28 GHz spectrum to telecom operators.

Notably, the 28 GHz band ranges from 27.5 GHz to 29.5 GHz is used by satellite players; however, it seems an efficient band for 5G services. On the other hand, telecom players want half of the 28 GHz airwaves for the 5G services. However, satellite players do not want to share this band with telcos and taken up this issue to telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash.

"We did meet the DoT secretary on this (28 GHz) spectrum when we learned that it was being decided to give away 50 percent of these valuable airwaves for 5G," said K Krishna, vice president and CTO at Hughes Communications India. "This spectrum can't be suddenly taken away as that will certainly hurt satellite interests," he was quoted by ET.

Similarly, Anil Prakash, director-general of Satcom Industry states that International Telecom Union already rejected allocating any part of the 28 MHz band to the 5G services. The report states if half of the spectrum has been given to telecom operators, then it might decrease the capacity of the entire system.

Additionally, sources close to the development said that losing half of the spectrum is huge as Starlink and the upcoming Amazon project are expected to use the same band to run their operations in the country.

Meanwhile, OneWeb shared that it has no problem in sharing the band with Indian telecom operators.

"Globally, satellite spectrum is coordinated by ITU and respective countries to ensure a balance between terrestrial mobile services, satellite operators and any other user, and we believe it will be no different in India," the company's spokesperson said.

Despite the fact that India is behind other countries in terms of launching 5G services, some companies and individuals are creating issues every day. Now, this new issue is likely to delay the trials and auction both as satellite players have taken this matter to the telecom secretary and it might take more time to announce the final verdict.