Over the last decade, the phenomenal growth in the Indian telecom sector has had a significant impact on the country's communication networks.

However, the rate of growth in the cordless telecommunications systems (CTS) used by the residential and enterprise segments have been sluggish, at best. This has been attributed primarily to the limited wireless options available for such users.

Currently, the wireless platform, in conjunction with wireline solutions, is the most widely used medium for intra-telecommunication requirements in this segment. Most of the wireless-based PABX solutions available today operate in the 2.4 GHz de-licensed ISM band, which is also being used to support other data applications.

Aiming to bridge this gap, the DECT Forum had requested TRAI to allocate spectrum to meet the communication requirements of this segment.

After several rounds of consultation with industry stakeholders, the regulator has come out with a consultation paper on “Allocation of Spectrum Resources for Residential and Enterprise Intra-telecommunication Requirements/ cordless telecommunications system (CTS).”

Issues in allocating spectrum

Various service providers and industry associations have identified issues in allocating a separate spectrum band to meet the communication requirements of the residential and enterprise segment. These included:

• India  should  retain  its technology neutral approach - As per the stakeholders, any operator who wants to provide services that require spectrum should be subjected to the same rules and regulatory principles. Also, they felt that allocating spectrum for a single niche technology would be inconsistent with the existing basic licensing structure.
• A de-licensed band may result in substantial revenue losses: The operators and industry associations stated that if the presently unallocated 1910-1920 MHz spectrum band gets de-licensed for cordless applications, the services deployed over these bands may be extended to mobility. They added that once DECT services become an alternative to mobile services, DECT providers would obtain an unjustified cost advantage. Also, if spectrum is not allocated in a transparent manner, the exchequer may have to contend with heavy revenue losses. Further, as there is no strong commercial interest in providing DECT based residential/ commercial/public access cordless systems, it would not be prudent to reserve 10MHz of un-licensed spectrum for DECT.
• Interference, coexistence with adjacent bands and possible roadblock to the growth of CDMA technology: As per the stakeholders, the proposed DECT band of 1880-1930 MHz (TDD mode) overlaps with the 1920-1980/2110-2170 MHz 3G band and the adjoining 1710-1785/ 1805-1880 MHz 2G band. So, before any spectrum is allocated to DECT/ cordless telephony, extensive research on sharing of spectrum bands need to be carried out. Moreover, the regulator has identified the 1900-1910/ 1980-1990 MHz band for CDMA networks and so DECT cannot be permitted to use this band.
• Using DECT phones may mean duplicity of service: stakeholders have questioned the use of DECT phones, on grounds that the country’s mobile telephony requirements are being met by mobile handsets. Also, DECT phones have a limited demand, primarily by the enterprise segment, whereas mobile phones are used by all categories of users.
• Short range services already exist in the delicensed 2.4 & 5.8 GHz band: Unlicensed Wi-Fi services already fulfill the requirement of providing short range services in residences and enterprises.

Issues for consultation

The broad issues put up for consultation are as follows:

• Whether the current allocation of spectrum for CTS is sufficient to meet requirements. If not, then what alternatives can be considered to meet the demands of cordless telephony spectrum requirements?
• Are DECT phones required, especially in view of the availability of cellular mobile services in the country and the possibility of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC)?
• Is there a requirement to allocate spectrum for digital CTS, in view of similar solutions being available in the 2.4 & 5.8 GHz band?
• Whether de-licensing of the spectrum for digital CTS applications is a viable solution
• Whether stakeholders agree that the 1880-1900 or 1910-1920 MHz band (TDD Mode) can be allocated for digital CTS applications? If it can, how should the limits of emitted power (EIRP), power flux density (pfd), antenna gain etc, be defined?
• Whether the stakeholders anticipate any hurdles in the coexistence of existing cellular systems that use an adjacent band with low power CTS allocations in the 1880-1900 or the 1910-1920 MHz band?
• Whether the de-licensing of either the 1880-1900 MHz or the 1910-1920 MHz band for low power CTS applications will result in loss of revenue to the government?
• Whether there exist any potential security threats in using CTS? If so, how to address the same.
• What method of spectrum allocation for digital CTS applications should be adopted? Currently, this distinction can be made on the basis of technology used or the specifications used to define the de-licensed spectrum band