Harmonizing 900 MHz Band

Background

Though the available Radio Spectrum across the world is exactly the same, its usage across countries varies widely. In India, historically it has been always an issue. The reasons are, a) Inadequate planning - leading to inefficient and non-contiguous allocations, b) Excessive prices - leading to unsold spectrum, b) Delay in the opening of new bands - leading to a lot of unused spectrum. However, lately, DoT has done extremely good work by harmonizing 1800, 2100 and 850 MHz bands. This has greatly enhanced the quality of these bands and made them palatable to 4G deployments. Unfortunately, the very important 900 MHz band has fallen between the cracks and is currently working at only 50% efficiency - being highly fragmented. See figure below.

900 MHz Band (Current Status)

The allocation of Bharti (marked green), Vodafone (marked blue), Idea (marked amber), and RCOM (marked yellow) are fresh. This they acquired through auctions held in 2014 and 2015 and are mostly contiguous. The spectrum of BSNL and MTNL (marked with black color) is fragmented and is expiring in next 2 years. This fragmentation is due to the allocation of government agencies in small chunks overlapping the allocations of BSNL and MTNL. These government usages (marked ebony) are very restricted (low radius of 1 to 2 Kms) and in only some specific geographic locations (40 to 50). Some allocations are made to Railways (marked dark blue), and spectrum unsold in the 2016 auctions are marked as pink, and those free are marked as white. The quantum of assignments across circles and across operators are indicated in the table below.

NIA Conditions

As per the current policy, the Government reserves the right to change frequencies at any point during the period of the licenses, if required, to promote spectrum efficiency. As per NIA document of August 2016 (para 9.1.3.1) states the following -

“Notwithstanding any other provisions contained in the license agreement or elsewhere, frequency reconfiguration i.e. rearrangement of spot frequencies in the same band, may be carried out by the WPC wing, DoT when it is required to improve spectral efficiency/ harmonization of a band/ proper conduct of telegraphy and public interest. Frequency reconfiguration would be the sole prerogative of the government. The rearrangement of frequencies in a band may result in continuity of spectrum of a licensee as decided by the government. No charges will be levied for such rearrangement of frequencies.”

The process becomes somewhat easy as the licenses of BSNL/MTNL is expiring soon.

Harmonization Plans (Option 1)

1. Move BSNL/MTNL to the right most part of the band
2. Move Government allocations either out of this band or contain these a very small geography (40 to 50 locations only of a radius of 1 to 2 Kms)
3. Absorb these Government assignments within BSNL/MTNL as their spectrum is likely to expire in next 2 years.
4. Align all un-liberalized assignments with that of BSNL/MTNL as required

• Bharti: Assam (1.8), Bihar (6.2), J&K (6.2), Orissa (6.2), UPE (6.2), WB (4.4)
• Vodafone: TN (6.2), UPW (6.2), WB (4.4)
• Aircel: Assam (4.4), J&K (4.4), NE (4.4), TN (7.8)

The quantum of assignments across circles and across operators after harmonization are indicated in the table below.

You can see in 12 circles out of 22, we will have a block of 5 MHz or more for auctions (see the last column of the above table). This is assuming that BSNL/MTNL gets to keep their 6.2 MHz even after their licenses expire.

Harmonization Plans (Option 2)

The only difference between this option as the earlier one is to reduce BSNL/MTNL's assignment to only 5 MHz from the current 6.2 MHz (BSNL/MTNL's license is expiring in next 2 to 3 years).

The quantum of assignments across circles and across operators after harmonization are indicated in the table below.

You can see in 18 circles out of 22, we will have a block of 5 MHz or more for auctions (see the last column of the above table). This is assuming that BSNL/MTNL gets to keep 5 MHz after their licenses expire in next 2 to 3 years.

Summary

The summary of all three options for easy reference is listed in the following table.

You can clearly see that the quantum of spectrum available in the 900 MHz band after harmonization can be increased significantly. This is important, as this band is extremely valuable and will be used for deployment of 4G soon. Expanding the quantum of spectrum further will increase data speeds and help in improving consumers experience.

(Views expressed are of my own and do not reflect that of my employer)