‘Failure to designate 6 GHz spectrum band for mobile services to harm India’s interests’

NEW DELHI: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) in a letter to Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government’s failure to identify 6 GHz frequency range for mobile services would harm India’s interests and impact the ecosystem development worldwide.

In a letter to Vaishnaw, dated December 13, 2023, COAI director general SP Kochhar said, “Failure to designate this band as originally intended will not only harm India’s IMT interests, but also impact the progress towards the development of a worldwide ecosystem for IMT in this band.

Telecom carriers – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – have been demanding the Indian government to identify and allocate radio waves in the 6 GHz band for commercial mobile services or IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications).