US tech majors oppose Indian telcos on 6 GHz band spectrum

US tech majors Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Meta, HP and Intel Corporation have jointly opposed Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea’s demand to allocate spectrum in the 6 gigahertz (GHz) band for mobile services.

The tech majors sought the entire 6GHz band to be allocated for Wi-Fi services instead.

In a joint response to telecom regulator Trai’s consultation paper for the next round of spectrum auction, the US technology giants have said the technical and commercial readiness in the 6 GHz band was not established for mobile services.

“We do not recommend setting timelines for any future auction of the 6425-6725 MHz and 7025-7125 MHz ranges for IMT. TRAI, together with the Department of Telecommunications, should review the allocation of the upper 6 GHz band following the outcomes of WRC-27, including Agenda Item 1.7 concerning 7.125-8.4 GHz,” the joint submission said.

The tech giants said any upper 6 GHz spectrum that would otherwise remain unused should be made available for unlicensed use in the interim.

The government has said 400 MHz of frequencies in 6 GHz are available for auction, 300 Mhz will be available by 2030 and 500 MHz will be delicensed for use by low power applications, meaning Wi-Fi services.

Reliance Jio has demanded that the entire 1200 MHz spectrum available in the 6 GHz should be included in the upcoming event even though the government has decided to delicense 500 MHz of lower frequency range in the band for low power or Wi-Fi applications.

The newly identified 6425-6725 MHz and 6725-7125 MHz bands form part of the upper 6 GHz band (6425-7125 MHz range).