Home ministry's hope for spectrum hits a wall

the 700MHz band.

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MHA or DCPW has to approach telecom service providers for priority service, or they can plan public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) upgrade in the 800MHz band," one of the officials cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

India is looking to upgrade its communication networks for public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) with enhanced broadband capabilities. The existing infrastructure is largely fragmented, narrow-band or based on aging analog systems primarily limited to voice communication, while modern emergency response requires high bandwidth.

The PPDR project is moving at a slow pace. It was in 2018 that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended the establishment of a pan-India integrated Broadband PPDR (BB-PPDR) network based on modern 4G/5G technology to replace aging narrow band and analog systems. The home ministry believes that 700MHz 5G spectrum is key for public safety networks because of a matured device ecosystem, lower deployment cost, and the band's ability to travel longer distances and penetrate buildings with its signals better than the higher-frequency bands.