Rajeev Gauba Panel set up to streamline Spectrum Allocation

The Government of India has constituted a panel under the cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to streamline telecom spectrum allocation. The panel has been constituted with secretaries of railways, defence, home, telecom, department of space and Information and Broadcasting.

Highlights

The spectrum auction had been held by GoI for six times. They are 2010, 2012-16. However, there was no clarity on frequency of future airwave sale.

Spectrum Allocation

It is the regulation of electromagnetic spectrum bands. These bands are of radio frequency. The next spectrum auction is looked forward in regard to the 5G network.

What is the issue?

The Department of Space is not willing to free up 26 GHz of the band as it can cause interference between 5G networks and satellites. The bands 26 GHZ, 28 GHz and 40 GHz are the most likely candidates to enable ultra-high speed connectivity of 5G.  Thus, the tussle has come up between the telecom and the space sector.

About the Panel

The panel will resolve the tussle between Department of Space and the telecom department over the 5G spectrum in the 26 GHz band.

The other issues regarding the spectrum allocation is the lack of clarity in timing the next sale.

5G Network

The fifth-generation cellular technology increases uploading and downloading speeds of the mobile network. It will provide download speed of 1 GBps. This is 100 times the data speed of the current networks. It will increase energy efficiency of the network. Also, it will ensure connectivity to full circle.

The 5G is to be deployed between the frequency range of 28 GHz and 100 GHz.

Challenge

The main challenge in implementing 5G network is its infrastructure. This means that when 5G is being implemented, it will take minimum of two years to access better speeds.

Paulraj Committee

The Paulraj Committee was formed in 2018 to suggest a road map on adoption of 5G. The committee made recommendations in regulatory policy, spectrum policy, standards and education.  The committee predicted that even after the launch of 5G, the earlier generation mobile technologies will remain in use for at least 10 years.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2020