Spectrum sharing, trading needed to facilitate smart cities, says Sumit Dutta Chowdhury
India's telecom operators led by a lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India has been long-demanding spectrum sharing and trading.
By Muntazir Abbas, ET Bureau | Updated:
NEW DELHI: Sharing of airwaves between operators and the ecosystem for non-telecom services could be a crucial element to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious Rs 7,000-crore Smart City project, a former Reliance Jio president and CIO said.
"Other than GSM or CDMA, spectrum sharing and trading is vital for smart cities' utility and public safety services that include intelligent traffic management, video surveillance and smart metering applications," Sumit Dutta Chowdhury told ET.
"If sharing of infrastructure that includes spectrum is not done, the Smart City project would not succeed," said Chowdhury, adding that broadband penetration is vital as it allows sensor-based information to flow across sources.
India's telecom operators led by a lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has been long-demanding spectrum sharing and trading so that they could plan business strategies including network investments.
Chowdhury feels that it's high time to use airwaves for a variety of services and telecom operators together with the regulator should work out a model in which spectrum can be "rented out" to departments such as traffic police to facilitate Smart City initiative.
"One of the key functions of a Smart City project will be to collect data and disseminate it to various departments for seamless information flow and that requires sufficient bandwidth," the former Jio executive said.
"There is a need to expeditiously notify guidelines for spectrum trading and sharing to facilitate the most optimal use of this resource which will eventually help in the growth of broadband," COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said.
Chowdhury believes that the government should facilitate a common platform to create Smart City as a service and come up with economically viable solutions.
The Narendra Modi government has embarked on the Smart City project and aims to enable 100 cities with ICT-driven infrastructure by 2022 with an outlay of Rs 7,016-crore.
The US government is lending its support to India to build Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam as smart cities while many ICT vendors such as IBM, Cisco, Avaya and Intel, among others are keenly following the government's moves.
"Other than GSM or CDMA, spectrum sharing and trading is vital for smart cities' utility and public safety services that include intelligent traffic management, video surveillance and smart metering applications," Sumit Dutta Chowdhury told ET.
"If sharing of infrastructure that includes spectrum is not done, the Smart City project would not succeed," said Chowdhury, adding that broadband penetration is vital as it allows sensor-based information to flow across sources.
India's telecom operators led by a lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has been long-demanding spectrum sharing and trading so that they could plan business strategies including network investments.
Chowdhury feels that it's high time to use airwaves for a variety of services and telecom operators together with the regulator should work out a model in which spectrum can be "rented out" to departments such as traffic police to facilitate Smart City initiative.
"One of the key functions of a Smart City project will be to collect data and disseminate it to various departments for seamless information flow and that requires sufficient bandwidth," the former Jio executive said.
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"There is a need to expeditiously notify guidelines for spectrum trading and sharing to facilitate the most optimal use of this resource which will eventually help in the growth of broadband," COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said.
Chowdhury believes that the government should facilitate a common platform to create Smart City as a service and come up with economically viable solutions.
The Narendra Modi government has embarked on the Smart City project and aims to enable 100 cities with ICT-driven infrastructure by 2022 with an outlay of Rs 7,016-crore.
The US government is lending its support to India to build Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam as smart cities while many ICT vendors such as IBM, Cisco, Avaya and Intel, among others are keenly following the government's moves.
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Moinak Mitra, ET Bureau
As the Chief Globalisation Officer at Cisco, Wim Elfrink prides himself on applying digital overlay to physical infrastructure.
He's also the brain behind the 2.18 million square feet Cisco Smart Campus in Bengaluru that houses eight glass-and-concrete buildings showcasing a digitally connected and sustainable environment where 8,500-odd techies don't have an assigned workplace.
The campus ecosystem resembles a smart city and is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big idea of digitising India by setting up 100 smart cities.
As the Chief Globalisation Officer at Cisco, Wim Elfrink prides himself on applying digital overlay to physical infrastructure.
He's also the brain behind the 2.18 million square feet Cisco Smart Campus in Bengaluru that houses eight glass-and-concrete buildings showcasing a digitally connected and sustainable environment where 8,500-odd techies don't have an assigned workplace.
The campus ecosystem resembles a smart city and is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big idea of digitising India by setting up 100 smart cities.
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