Dept of Space doesn’t want to free up spectrum in 26 Ghz mmwave; telcos fret

Kolkata: The Department of Space (DoS) has objected to any airwaves allocation in the coveted 26 Ghz millimeter wave band for 5G services, saying it can cause interference between satellite and 5G mobile networks and impact quality of satellite coverage.

At a time when telcos want the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the sector regulator to ensure both millimeter-wave spectrum and other 5G bands like 3.5 GHz are auctioned in India’s first 5G spectrum sale (likely in 2021), unavailability of 26 Ghz spectrum could spoil the 5G business case in India.