5G: COAI urges government not to allot spectrum on administrative basis 

NEW DELHI: The Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI); which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea; on Thursday, again urged the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) not to provide 5G spectrum on an administrative basis as it leads to no business case for the rollout of 5G networks in the country.

The comment comes after billionaire Gautam Adani’s group made a surprise entry into the race to acquire the 5G spectrum. “If the independent entities set up private captive networks with direct 5G spectrum allotment, it will diminish revenue so much that there will be no viable business case left for the TSPs and there will not remain any need for 5G network rollout by TSPs (telecom service providers),” said  S P Kochhar, DG of COAI.

Ever since the DoT released 5G auction guidelines, two industry bodies – COAI  and Broadband India Forum (BIF) are at loggerheads. The telco body is opposing the government’s move to provide a direct allocation of 5G spectrums to enterprises to set up private 5G networks.