Telcos divided over allocation of microwave backhaul airwaves

Telcos such Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have sided with tech players and equipment makers while seeking administrative allocation of microwave spectrum unlike the market leader Reliance Jio. But each group has different rationales.

Reliance Jio has backed auction for all microwave spectrum and E/V bands, arguing that auction will prevent hoarding of backhaul airwaves.

“We submit that the administrative assignment of spectrum is not a prudent or legally tenable policy, especially when the spectrum bands cannot be termed as purely backhaul,” Jio said in its comments to TRAI.


The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had sought comments for fresh regulations on allocation, pricing, and quantum of spectrum in microwave backhaul in 6 GHz (lower), 7 GHz, 13 GHz, 15 GHz, 18 GHz, 21 GHz Bands, E-Band, and V-Band.

The consultation paper notes that the Telecom Act, 2023, specifies spectrum for radio backhaul shall be assigned through administrative allocation. However, the TRAI has clarified that last-mile connectivity for fixed-wireless access (FWA) will be allocated through auctions.

Microwave airwaves that provide wireless backhaul to over 60% of mobile towers in India, are seeing a surge in demand amidst accelerating 5G rollouts, and rapid digital transformation. They are used to connect cell sites to the core network.

Telecom providers have also called for an urgent need to rationalise backhaul spectrum pricing, stating that current charges are excessively high and impede network expansion.

Telcos, in their comments to TRAI, said the current Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) model is economically unviable due to escalating charges linked to Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), and instead, a flat, low, and predictable SUC model be adopted.

As much as “75%, i.e., the lion’s share, relates to SUC for backhaul spectrum. This is an alarming pattern, considering that backhaul spectrum does not generate any revenue of its own and is merely a complementary resource for access spectrum,” Bharti Airtel.

Satellite players such as Amazon Kuiper, on their part, called for mitigating any impact of additional allocation of terrestrial radio backhaul may have on Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS) operations, especially in shared bands such as 18 GHz and the E-band. These bands are crucial for Ka-band FSS operations (gateway stations, customer terminals, telemetry, tracking, and command stations).

Satellite communications players recommended a cautious approach, and the need for coexistence studies and restricting terrestrial use in shared bands to point-to-point applications only, which telcos have opposed.

Meanwhile, network equipment makers and broadband providers represented by Broadband India Forum (BIF) opposed using the lower and upper 6GHz, and 7 GHz bands for traditional microwave backhaul purposes.

They argued that the upper and lower 6 GHz bands should be delicensed, or allotted without auction, for Wi-Fi use, and that 7 GHz be preserved for licensed IMT use, and exempted from point-to-point backhaul assignments.

However, telcos opposed equipment makers and tech industry’s demands to delicense significant portions of the V-band (57-71 GHz) for innovation, short-range applications, and public Wi-Fi.

Most stakeholders were unanimous in asking for fresh regulations for the 7 GHz and 15 GHz bands to be deferred until after the World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 (WRC-27) concludes.

This is to ensure decisions align with international outcomes and avoid long-term planning disruptions.

Telcos have also opposed earmarking spectrum for captive uses, backing instead a spectrum leasing framework from them.