The Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) continue with the current practice of allocating microwave access (MWA) and microwave backbone (MWB) frequency airwaves to telecom operators on an administrative basis. This comes after DoT sought TRAI’s recommendations for allocation and pricing of MWA and MWB radio frequency carriers.

Microwave carriers in the frequency bands of 10 GHz and beyond are called MWA carriers and below 10 GHz are called MWB carriers. Microwave technology is widely deployed by operators to provide point-to-point radio frequency links in mobile networks.

TRAI is of the opinion that as the access spectrum is being assigned through the auction process, there is no requirement for another auction for the assignment of microwave carriers, as these will be used by only those telecom service providers who have access spectrum.

The regulator said that the service providers should be assigned MWA carriers as per their requirement. However, this will be subject to a ceiling on the number of MWA frequency blocks that can be assigned to an operator. TRAI has also proposed that operators having spectrum above the ceiling limit should surrender excess frequency airwaves within one year. In the case that the service provider is left with excess MWA spectrum following its trading, it will have to surrender the additional carriers within three months of the effective date of trade.

The regulator recommends that the assignment of MWA spectrum should be done on an exclusive basis for the various bands in the 13-42 GHz range whereas the assignment of MWB carriers should be done on a link-to-link basis. TRAI has also proposed that in order to increase broadband penetration in India, the usage of high capacity back haul E-band (71-76 / 81-86 GHz) and V-band (57-64 MHz) may be explored for allocation to the telecom service providers.