The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has not given the green light to TRAI’s (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendation for private enterprise 5G. The rejection of the recommendation is partial in nature as the telecom body has allowed the enterprises to request for private 5G networks to be set up and managed by the telecom service providers (TSPs) in India. This simply means that the DoT is not going to allocate spectrum directly to the private enterprises. However, if the enterprises really need private 5G, they can request the telecom operators for it. TSPs can use their spectrum acquired in the spectrum auctions to provide 5G network services to the enterprises.
Enterprises Can Use Network Slice from TSPs for Private 5G
According to a MoneyControl report, DoT has sided with TRAI’s recommendation for the use of network slice for providing private 5G services to the enterprises. Through network slicing, the telcos can divide their network and allocate a part of it to the enterprises. This will allow the enterprises to have full control of the network, meaning the speed and performance can be customised as per needs. Further, a network slice means that it is separated from the public network. Thus there will be no common security concerns with the private 5G service offered to the enterprises. This is in line with what the telecom operators wanted as well. The telcos had a problem with the regulator’s recommendations which said that the private enterprises should be allowed to set up their own internal 5G networks by allocating the spectrum directly to them. This would have meant the telcos would have lost a major part of their enterprise revenues. This wasn’t sitting well with the telecom operators of the country, and thus they had requested the telecom department not to let this happen. But the enterprises were all up for the direct spectrum allocation for private 5G. Enterprises believed that there would always be a demand for services from TSPs and private 5G is not really a threat to them. Regardless, DoT has shared its decision, and private 5G with self-owned spectrum is not something the Indian enterprises are going to get right now.
