Adani in spectrum race but ‘not in consumer mobility space’

The development comes after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), in a set of rules issued last month, said companies wishing to set up private 5G networks can get spectrum directly from the government without paying a license fee.

“As India prepares to launch next-generation 5G services through this auction, we are one of the many bidders participating in the open bidding process,” Adani Group said in a statement. “We are participating in the 5G spectrum auction to provide private network solutions along with enhanced airport, port and logistics cyber security, power generation, transmission, distribution and various manufacturing operations… Our intention is not to be in the consumer space mobility.”

The conglomerate said that as it builds its own digital platform, including super applications, data centers and industrial command and control centers, it will need ultra-high-quality data streaming capabilities via a high-frequency, low-latency 5G network across all of its businesses. . “… if we are given 5G spectrum in open bidding, it will also align with our recent announcement to significantly increase Adani Foundation’s investment in education, health and rural skill development,” it added.

Last month, along with the announcement of the spectrum auction to deploy 5G services across the country, the government announced the proposal for technology companies to acquire spectrum directly from it to test and build Industry 4.0 applications such as machine-to-machine communications, IoT, AI etc. These networks are called private subnets because they are set up to serve a specific organization.

As per DoT rules announced last month, businesses willing to set up such networks by getting spectrum directly from the government will have to take a 10-year renewable license for which the government will not charge any license fee. The licensee will be required to follow certain network security norms regarding the purchase of telecommunications equipment from trusted sources. However, the transport ministry said it would undertake demand studies and seek recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to directly award spectrum to such businesses.

Enterprises can also lease spectrum from one or more telecom companies and will be allowed to do so after providing details of frequency spectrum, quantity of spectrum, lease period, geographical area, geographical coordinates of logical perimeter of certain premises to the government. In addition, the revenue received from spectrum leasing will be part of the gross revenue of the telcos. The Department of Telecommunications has restricted the use of such networks to personal use only, prohibiting private networks from connecting to public networks “in any manner.” In addition, both telcos and technology companies leasing spectrum will have to ensure that there is no interference caused to a public network or other licensed user of the spectrum.

Telecom operators had previously opposed the government’s decision to allow non-telcos to set up their own private networks, citing loss of revenue. Industry executives also noted that allowing enterprises to set up such networks without paying a license fee, as stipulated in the DoT norms, would give them an unfair advantage over telcos, which expect business use cases to drive the -the majority of revenue they earn from 5G airwaves compared to the consumer sector.

Meanwhile, the government expects to earn between Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore from the upcoming 5G auction, a senior government official said earlier. The entire auctioned spectrum, worth about Rs 4.5 lakh crore, may not be sold, including in the prime 700 MHz band.