Should we look forward to the 5G rollout keeping in mind the current Indian Telecom Infrastructure?

For 2018, 4G ruled the Indian Telecom Market. Extensive 4G network expansion undertaken by the telecom operators led to the remarkable growth of the mobile internet subscribers and consumption. This, coupled with a significant drop in the prices of smartphone and the intense tariff war between telcos, fuelled the mobile broadband market in the country.

But with the onslaught of 4G in the Indian Market, the Indian Government is attempting to make sure that the nation does not miss the 5G bus as it happened with 2G and 3G. Tilak Raj Dua, TAIPA and Manish Vyas, Tech Mahindra give their take on the current Indian Telecom Infrastructure and if we should look forward to the highly anticipated 5G rollout in 2019 or 2020.

According to Tilak Raj Dua, Director General, TAIPA, the intent of Government is crystal clear with the setting up of 5G High Level forum 2020, allocating 550 Crores for research to IITs and 5G test bed etc. It is worth highlighting that DoT, TSDSI and IITs have been successful in getting the Large Cell Low Mobility (LCLM) use case accepted in IMT 2020 requirements.

He further says that to catch the 5G bus, the NDCP 2018 a overarching forward looking document talks about facilitation of the establishment of mobile tower infrastructure by incentives and exemptions for construction of towers, accelerated RoW permissions with rationalisation of taxes and levies for telecom infrastructure, encourages the sharing of active and passive infrastructure by enhancing the scope of IP-Is and establishing common service utility ducts and utility corridors.

Execution of the above-mentioned provisions well in time will ensure the development of a robust telecom infrastructure gearing up the nation to unearth the potential of 5G at par with the globe.

According to Manish Vyas, President, Communications, Media & Entertainment Business, and the CEO, Network Services, Tech Mahindra, in major cities in India we can expect 5G rollouts in 2020. But there is a lot of work to be done. Both in building the right infrastructure as well as defining the regulatory framework for the 5G Spectrum.