Broadband India Forum gears up to push 5G trials

Broadband India Forum (BIF), which works closely with the government's 5G high-level forum, on Thursday said it formed a "5G Committee" to champion the roll-out of 5G trials in the country.

The BIF said it received proposals for three 5G trials.

The companies identified as industry leaders for carrying out first set of 5G trials include Nokia for public safety, Sterlite for manufacturing and Aeris for Internet of Things (IoT).

"We're very excited that BIF has taken a big step forward by setting the ball rolling for 5G trials with industry leaders such as Nokia, Sterlite and Aeris in the areas of public safety, manufacturing and IoT," said BIF President T.V. Ramachandran.

"We expect this to form the bed-rock of commercial use cases built around 5G technology and will help accelerate the growth of our digital economy to meet the stated target of $1trillion by 2022 as enshrined in the National Digital Communications Policy 2018," Ramachandran added.

For charting a roadmap for the country's transition to 5G, the government last year set up the "High Level Forum for 5G India 2020" consisting of three ministries, industry stakeholders and experts from different organisation.

The BIF 5G Committee also aims to drive a comprehensive approach to spectrum, infrastructure policies, industry investment, and government support necessary to make India a front-runner in 5G deployment and use.

The government should allocate spectrum of low bands like 700 MHz, 850 MHz for better coverage of 5G technology and higher frequencies for high data rate communication, BIF, which has its head office in New Delhi, said.

The broadband group also announced that it will be formulating and releasing a "Request for Proposal" (RFP) by early August for 5G trials under the leadership of C S Rao, President, QuadGen Wireless Solutions Inc. and and the government's high-level 5G forum.

The purpose of the RFP will be to spell the scope of the trials and identify spectrum needs, topological requirements and other technical requirements, besides the roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder.

The outcomes and feedback of these trials will then be provided to the government to help fine-tune policy aspects, BIF said, adding that the first set of these trials is expected to be completed by end of 2018 or early 2019.

--IANS

gb/vm