Allot free spectrum to tech cos to boost competitiveness: CP Gurnani

Technology companies should be allotted “free spectrum” to set up private 5G networks, Tech Mahindra chief executive CP Gurnani told ET, arguing that it will increase the “aatmanirbharta” of the country and boost Indian industry’s competitiveness in the global arena.

The 63-year-old technocrat who helms India’s fifth largest software services firm said enterprises ranging from hospitals to factories and industrial townships—that stand to gain tremendously from 5G deployment- should be free to go to any service provider, be it a telecom service or any technology company, and “not pay any license fee.”

“If they (union government) want to make the nation more technologically competitive, more productive, and more citizen service oriented, then (they should) give it (spectrum) free for a few years,” Gurnani said in a recent hard-hitting interview.