Even as 3G and International Mobile Telecommunication 2000 (IMT-2000) systems are being deployed across India, the evolution of more advanced systems, known as IMT-Advanced (IMT-A) systems, is also taking place. In order to facilitate the growth of such services in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has brought out a Consultation Paper on IMT-Advanced Mobile Broadband Services.

Over the past two decades, the number of mobile telephone subscribers has increased significantly. Consequently, the need for bandwidth-intensive services has also grown manifold, putting considerable pressure on mobile networks. According to TRAI, while 3G networks are being deployed to address some of the demand for bandwidth-hungry services, it is becoming increasingly important to promote advanced system networks for catering to the growing requirement for data, speed and content delivery.

IMT-A systems have been developed to provide access to a wide range of telecom services including advanced mobile and broadband services supported by mobile and fixed networks, which are increasingly becoming packet based. These systems facilitate higher bandwidth, higher data rates and lower authentication loads, and support higher levels of user-level customisation.

In February 2010, TRAI had issued a pre-consultation paper on the subject, seeking the comments of various stakeholders. Based on their comments, TRAI has issued the recent consultation paper. The key issues raised in the paper are identifying suitable spectrum bands, the block size of spectrum to be auctioned, the maximum spectrum to be permitted to a bidder, the eligibility criteria for bidding, rollout obligations, spectrum usage charges, quality-of-service (QoS) parameters, security and other related issues.

The broad issues put up for consultation are as follows:

•  Is there a need to define a particular user equipment or architecture to be used by vendors or should this be left to market forces?

•  Does the user equipment need to meet a minimal set of performance characteristics before it is permitted to enter a network? These characteristics are over and above the interoperability, protocol conformance and emission tests, which the user equipment has presumably already passed.

•  What are the other security issues in IMT-A services? How can these security issues be addressed?

•  What are the basic security frameworks to be mandated in all networks to protect the customer?

•  Which spectrum bands should be identified for IMT services in India?

•  What should be the block size of spectrum to be put on auction? What blocks of spectrum are required to be allocated/auctioned per service area?

•  What is the minimum spectrum block size required for effective use of 4G technologies?

• What is the maximum amount of spectrum that a service provider can be allocated through auction?

•  Is there a need to specify the use of a particular duplexing scheme, based on the band in which spectrum allocation is carried out? If yes, as in the case of TDD, is it required to further specify the frame duration, mandate frame synchronisation by using one of a specified set of timing sources, and develop a permissible set of uplink/downlink subframe schemes compatible with the IMT-A standards?

•  What should be the reserve price per MHz in different spectrum bands?

•  What should the eligibility conditions be while bidding for spectrum?

•  Is there a need for rollout obligations for spectrum allocated through auctions?

•  Is there a need for any specific rollout obligations with respect to rural areas?

•  How should the spectrum usage charges be fixed – should they be based on revenue share or constitute a fixed charge?

•  In the case of MIMO (multi-input, multi-output) technology, what are the possible infrastructure sharing issues and the probable solutions?

•  What regulatory mechanisms should be provided for the delivery of voice services over IMT-A systems?

• Should the interoperability of services with legacy 2G/3G systems be left to market forces?

•  What are the QoS measurements that can be reported on IMT-A systems?

•  Given the likely deployment scenarios, where the cell radius is scalable to much smaller levels using the concepts of femto and pico cells, the issues are: the impact of femto cells/SoN (self-organising network) architecture on the key performance indicators, the impact of relays/femto cells on the spectrum policy; the impact on infrastructure sharing; and the policy guidelines required to encourage low emission, low energy and high capacity architecture like femto cells overlaid over macro cells.

TRAI has invited stakeholders to submit their comments by end-September 2011. This will enable it to chart an effective road map for the deployment of IMT-A services in the country and cater to future telecom growth