Can India Go Ahead With Its Own 5G Standards?

5Gi, the first-ever telecom standard from India, promises better rural connectivity. So why are the policymakers and telcos at loggerheads over its adoption?

- Hemant Kashyap

After successfully clearing all the demands, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) cleared 5Gi for use as a 5G Standard in November 2020. This was the first time any telecom standard proposed by India was adopted as an official standard, so the excitement it generated was justified. However, does the need of the hour demand it?

The ITU accepted 5Gi as a 5G standard on 23rd November, 2020. For those unaware, Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) is the Indian equivalent of 3GPP in Europe, the organization that develops global telecom standards. Overall, ITU approved three 5G standards, including normal 5G, roaming and 5Gi.

The standard takes into account the load on Indian telecom sector and uses a waveform that provides more range. Indian research institutes such as IIT Hyderabad and IIT Madras developed this high-range waveform.

The new network operates in so-called “cells” – a region which a 5G transmitter can cover. Since 5G relies on waves with higher frequency, starting from below 700 MHz to 52,000 MHz, it sacrifices the range. Therefore, it will most probably rely on lower end of the 5G spectrum, up to 36 GHz at most. The DoT has made this much obvious – they plan to schedule a spectrum auction in the coming months.

In March 2016, ITU drafted a list of requirements for a 5G standard, under their project called IMT-2020. In November 2020, IMT-2020 recommended 3 key 5G components: the 3GPP 5G-SRIT, developed by 3GPP proponent as 5G, release 15 and beyond − LTE+NR SRIT; 3GPP 5G-RIT developed by 3GPP proponent as 5G, release 15 and beyond − NR RIT; and 5Gi RIT.

5Gi RIT – India’s answer to 5G