India Issues Guidelines On 5G Trials Ahead Of Spectrum Auction

• The DoT has fixed a uniform fee of Rs 5,000 for the 5G trial licence
• The validity of the 5G trial licence will range between 3 month and 2 years, depending on the purpose of the trial 
• Indian companies can also apply 5G trial licence for showing demonstration of the product

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued guidelines for 5G trials across all available spectrum bands indicating to allocate up to 400 MHz of radio waves for experiments, PTI reported.

The DoT has fixed a uniform fee of Rs 5,000 for the 5G trial licence. The validity of the 5G trial licence will range between 3 month and 2 years, depending on the purpose for which the trial is being conducted.

The guidelines issued on July 23 said typical values may be up to 100 MHz in 3.5 GHz band, 400 MHz in 26 GHz band and other potential millimetre bands.

India’s plan for 5G 
India’s telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier indicated that the government has plans to conduct 5G spectrum auction for 5G services by the end of this year to enable the roll-out of commercial services using the technology in 2020.

Indian companies involved in research and development (R&D), manufacturing, telecom operators and academia for the purpose of R&D and experimentation can get 5G trial licence for a period of up to two years, renewable on case to case basis by WPC (wireless planning and coordination).

Indian companies can also apply 5G trial licence for showing demonstration of the product in the country, according to the guidelines. The guidelines bar companies from offering any commercial service using the 5G trial licence. However, the guideline did not indicate about a possible ban on telecom equipment makers such as Huawei or ZTE. 

The telecom department has set a deadline for itself to grant permits for the trails between 4 and 8 weeks. After the expiry of the deadline, the applicant will be required to send a notice for trial if the DoT has not given any response. If the applicant does not receive any reply within two weeks after giving the application, it will be deemed approval.