5G Demands E-band Technology

E-band waves needed for 5G deployment, experts have claimed.

10:34 19 January 2018

The deployment of 5G technology requires e-band waves, industry executives and experts have said.

Abhay Savargaonkar, director-networks at Bharti AirtelBSE said: "Without E-band, it is impossible to meet requirements for 5G. E-band plays a very critical role in offloading burden and is a dire necessity in India,"

"A lot of work in terms of technology standardisation and finding right bands is required to be done while 3GPP is driving standardisation. There are various negotiations going on at regional and national level," said Laurent Bodusseau, senior directorspectrum at GSMA. The London-based group represents interests of mobile operators worldwide, including top Indian telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India.

He added that it was important to put the right amount of spectrum on the table. "Airwaves in 600 Mhz would be relevant to India as 70% people live in rural areas. This band has propagation characteristics and requires less infrastructure."

Bimal Dayal, CEO at Indus Towers, added: "We will be needing millions of radiating points. However, with 15-25% connected sites, we are not going to reach there since operators alone can't be connecting these many sites,"