5G captive networks: 10-year renewable licence, no permit fee

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued a set of guidelines for rollout of captive private 5G networks, alongside fresh guidelines to facilitate spectrum leasing for the first time in India. This has been done with an aim of facilitating use of 5G airwaves for development of use cases such as machine-to-machine communications, artificial intelligence, internet of things, etc.

The norms for captive non-public networks (CNPN) call for enterprises wanting to obtain spectrum directly from the government to take a 10-year renewable licence, for which the government won’t charge any licence fee. However, only those enterprises with a net worth of at least Rs 100 crore will be eligible for setting up private 5G networks,