When the policy first came about, telecom spectrum was linked to an operator's license - companies would be granted their license and they would also be allocated frequencies for a fixed number of years, after which they would have to bid to renew their license.
New norms in delinked the spectrum from the license, so now when telecom operators ask to renew their licenses, they pay separately for frequencies. So a telco would have to bid for a spectrum license in all of these circles to offer uninterrupted access across India - otherwise, it would have to connect with another company to offer the services in areas where it lacks spectrum, leading to roaming charges.
In those circles, it needs to switch users to a different band to offer its services. Of course this happens without any user intervention, so as long as Airtel has any spectrum and a license in the circle, users are unlikely to notice the difference.
The oldest of these is obviously 2G, while 4G is still evolving. These technologies were developed to take advantage of different bands, and this means that you can't just use a technology on any band at will. Bands might be roads, but only specific types of vehicles can travel on them. That's why your phone needs a modem that can operate on multiple frequencies, so that it can connect to all the bands, and transmit your voice, messages, and data.
Initially, LTE required a higher frequency for the greater data speeds it offered, but technology advances made it possible to use MHz instead. Does the frequency matter? So there are a lot of different frequency bands auctioned across different circles, and these bands power different technologies. But are there any differences between the bands? Apart from the fact that the communication technology was developed for certain bands, what are the advantages of using - for example, the MHz for 4G over the MHz band?
The new DoT policy, which came into effect on March 31, has allocated a maximum of 15 mhz to gsm operators, such as Airtel and Hutch, and 7. Official estimates say Delhi will require an additional 28 mhz to sustain current telecom growth. The new policy mandates equal subscriber base for more bandwidth. Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata group, in his letter to the prime minister has brought up the issue of 'self-proclaimed subscriber base'.
He is opposed to the policy of distributing spectrum on a subscriber-number basis without a proper verification mechanism. The policy has angered CDMA operators on other counts as well.
DoT has ordered ratio spectrum distribution on the premise that CDMA technology is more spectrum-efficient. But the operators claim that they are receiving the short end of the stick because of better technology. According to CDMA lobbyists, this is against fair trade practices and the government's commitment to technology-neutral services. Each group interprets 'fair play' differently.
In view of the arguments, CDMA operators' plea of unfairness in allocation is tenuous. Their demand for more bandwidth in spite of owning more efficient technology is contradictory in itself.
The availability of spectrum to each operator will decide the company's future growth and ability to hold back competition from other players. Spectrum availability has been a global problem with disputes over spectrum occupation. Defence establishments were often granted bulk spectrum in the absence of commercial demand. Now, with escalating commercial demand for more frequencies, the war over spectrum allocation is inevitable. In view of the increasing pressure for more space from the telecom operators, the prime miister constituted a high-powered group of ministers GoM , headed by defence minister, Pranab Mukherjee, to draft a new policy and vacate spectrum space alloted to the ministry of defence.
However, DoT drafted its own policy in the absence of GoM's recommendations. With every move to free more bands for the telecom sector, such battles will become more frequent. The Centre recently announced that it would spend Rs 1, crore in opening up more bandwidth for the telecom industry.
More state-owned spectrum facilities will be vacated soon. Therefore, the purpose of various spectrum policies and laws is the regulation and management of the resource the electromagnetic spectrum for the benefit of everyone using it.
This basically means that spectrum allocation is done to prevent major interference and chaos in the air waves, which would serve no one at all. Imagine a four-lane road that is quite small for highway standards and that there is no regulation where different vehicles are allowed to travel in.
Now, consider that there is a fleet of large trucks moving together and driving at a slower speed for safety. Without regulation on which lane they can drive in, the various members of this fleet of trucks would use all four lanes, effectively blocking all other vehicles. This causes all other vehicles behind to travel at speeds slower than or equal to those of the trucks since there is no way for them to pass. This is the purpose of spectrum allocation, to simply put everything in its place, in this case in a specific radio spectrum, to prevent interference and chaos.
By: Justin Stoltzfus Contributor, Reviewer. By: Satish Balakrishnan. For a more detailed description go to the Table of Frequency Allocations Chart. Note: The print edition of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations is revised yearly to include all final rules that amended the Table of Frequency Allocations and that were published in the Federal Register prior to October 1st.
By contrast, the Commission regularly updates its Online Table of Frequency Allocations shortly after a final rule has been released.
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