Telcos differ on adoption of India-centric 5G norms; Bharti Airtel, Vi caution of gaps in standards

Kolkata: Adoption of a homegrown 5G standard is set to become the latest flashpoint between Reliance Jio Infocomm and older telcos Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi). The Mukesh Ambani-owned telco is backing high-speed broadband technology with Indian standards to generate indigenous intellectual property rights (IPR). Its rivals say that these fall short in terms of interoperability with global standards and thus won’t be commercially viable.

Jio has backed the country-specific 5G norm proposed by the Telecom Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI). Acceptance of this can lead to the first Indian IPR on the global 5G stage, it says. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have cautioned the government about gaps in the India-centric 5G specifications proposed by TSDSI, saying they don’t mesh with global standards recommended by the 3GPP (the 3rd Generation Partnership Project).

The latter’s standards govern LTE networks operations worldwide and its suggested 5G standard has been backed by the International Telecom Union (ITU). Telcos in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Germany, China, Russia and the Middle East among others are rolling out 5G services based on 3GPP’s standard.

Jio, Airtel, Vi, Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung did not reply to ET’s queries.

TSDSI’s 5G standard, among other things, calls for deployment of 5G services in the 3.4 GHz band and suggests mobile towers be spaced 12 km apart in villages to ensure ubiquitous 5G coverage in rural India.