DoT to firm up policy on backhaul spectrum this year: Telecom Secretary

Telecom Dept undertook a slew of reforms in 2016 aimed at facilitating the ease of doing business

In a first, the Department of Telecom will finalise this year a comprehensive policy on backhaul spectrum or airwave that connects mobile towers with each other.

The policy for backhaul spectrum -- the work on which will start shortly -- will spell out aspects like the spectrum bands to be used for the purpose, system of allocation of such airwaves and the spectrum pricing. The backhaul spectrum works on higher frequency bands, between 3GHz to 70 GHz.

"We have done most of the reforms with regard to access spectrum, which is the spectrum between the consumer and the mobile towers. But on backhaul spectrum, which connects the mobile towers amongst themselves, there are areas like what spectrum should be used, how should the spectrum be allocated... Those are the policy features we would like to work on, this year," Telecom Secretary J S Deepak told PTI.

Stating that the backhaul spectrum is as important as access spectrum, Deepak said any "clogging" in the backhaul would mean that a call would not be completed.

"It has never been done before. It is a pioneering area because for this spectrum so far, its use has not been determined through a policy," he said.

Asked if the Telecom Department would have to refer the policy matter to telecom regulator TRAI for its views, Deepak said, "No, this decision pertains to the Telecom Commission."

The Telecom Department undertook a slew of reforms in 2016 aimed at facilitating the ease of doing business. This included formulating the Right of Way rules for faster telecom network roll-out, spectrum harmonisation, increasing the availability of spectrum through auction and introduction of Aadhaar-based eKYC for new mobile connections.

The new backhaul spectrum policy, which is in the offing, will address areas like users, bands, system of allocation, and pricing, he pointed out.

"We are starting work on it and in calender year 2017, you should see some outcomes," he said.

Today, the backhaul connectivity between mobile towers uses other bands of spectrum, and mostly fibre.

"Those which are not connected by fibre are connected through wireless and...That spectrum is also getting short, so we want to look at newer bands of spectrum which could be used for the backhaul," he added.

Deepak further said: "Much of this spectrum has huge capacities...So, that will improve the backhaul capacity once they become usable.