The National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP) is currently being reviewed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in India. It is an opportune time to delicense additional bands for WiFi, which are increasingly facing congestion in India. Whereas the US (FCC) has delicensed 580 MHz of spectrum in the 5 GHz band for WiFi, India has only delicensed 350 MHz. While the entire 580 MHz can be used for both indoor and outdoor use in the US, only 50 MHz can be used for outdoor use in India. This, along with the low power limits, are a growing constraint in the proliferation of WiFi in India. Given that Public WiFi is one of the priority initiatives as part of the Digital India program, the Government should look to delicense additional bands for WiFi and backhaul.
We propose the following approach for delicensing additional spectrum in the 5 GHz band for WiFi:
- Allow outdoor usage of all unlicensed 5GHz spectrum, a move which promotes neutrality of indoor and outdoor usage and increases efficiency and economy rollout of unlicensed applications, which in turn, equates to a more rapid build-out of digital infrastructure. This flexibility also improves consumer quality of service and lowers prices.
- Increase the quantum of unlicensed spectrum by allocating the 5470-5570 MHz, 5570-5725 MHz and 5875-5925 MHz ranges for unlicensed use, which would be in addition to the current unlicensed ranges – 5150-5350 MHz and 5725-5875 MHz in IND 67. The global success of unlicensed applications married with huge Indian demand for broadband access and rapidly increasing throughput requirements, implies that the NFAP should provide as much spectrum as possible, with a tilt toward unlicensed mode where feasible.
- Harmonize power limits and other technical parameters for unlicensed use in line with global trends to promote access and improve the quality unlicensed connectivity.
- Consolidate proposed changes into a table format, as highlighted in the Appendix, to facilitate future review that visually aligns the allocation tables to common global norms used in spectrum allocation.
In the following tables, we first summarise existing allocations in the NFAP. Next, we show the allocations in the United States. In the third table, we propose what the revised allocation in India should be. This approach will allow us to be harmonised with the global ecosystem for unlicensed bands in India.
Table 1 – Existing NFAP IND 67-72 Remarks
| Range | IND# | Operation Mode | Usage | Deployment | Max. Trans. Power | Max. mean e.i.r.p. | Max. mean e.i.r.p. density |
| (Watt) | (over MHz bandwidth) | ||||||
| 5150-5250 | 67 | Unlicensed | Low Power Wireless Access Systems including RLANs | Indoor | – | 200mW (1MHz) | 10mW/MHz (1MHz) |
| 68 | Not unlicensed | Outdoor | – | 200mW (1MHz) | 10mW/MHz (1MHz) | ||
| 5250-5350 | 67 | Unlicensed | Indoor | – | 200mW (1MHz) | 10mW/MHz (1MHz) | |
| 5350-5470 | ALLOCATED ESS | ||||||
| 5470-5570 | ALLOCATED ESS | ||||||
| 5570-5725 | 69 | Not unlicensed | Low Power Wireless Access Systems including RLANs | Indoor & Outdoor (case to case basis) | – | 1 | 50 mW/MHz |
| 5725-5825 | 67 | Unlicensed | Indoor | – | 200 mW | 10 mW/MHz | |
| 71 | Not unlicensed | Low Power Wireless Access Systems including RLANs and DSRC for ITS | – | 1 (10 MHz) | 4 (10 MHz) | – | |
| 70 | Not unlicensed | Very low power radio gadgets, radio toys etc. subject to non-interference, non-protection and non-exclusiveness | – | 100 µW | – | – | |
| 5825-5875 | 67 | Unlicensed | Low Power Wireless Access Systems including RLANs | Indoor | – | 200 mW | 10 mW/MHz |
| 72 | Unlicensed | Low Power Equipment | – | 1 (10 MHz) | 1 (10 MHz) | – | |
| 5875-5925 | ALLOCATED FIXED, FIXED-SATELLITE (Earth-to-space), MOBILE, Radiolocation in IND70, IND 72, IND 82 | ||||||
Table 2 – FCC Allocation
| Range | Operation Mode | Applications | Deployment | Max. Trans. Power | Max. EIRP | Max. EIRP Density | Max. Ant. Gain |
| 5.150-5.250 | Unlicensed | Access Points | Indoor | 1 W | 17 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |
| Outdoor | 1 W | 125 mW (21dBm)
For angle > 30 |
17 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |||
| Fixed Point to Point Access Points | Neutral | 1 W | 23 dBi | ||||
| Mobile & Portable Devices | Neutral | 250 mW | 11 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |||
| 5.250-5.350 | Unlicensed | Application agnostic | Neutral | 250 mW | 11 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |
| 5.350-5.470 | |||||||
| 5.470-5.725 | Unlicensed | Application agnostic | Neutral | 250 mW | 11 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |
| 5.725-5.850 | Unlicensed | Application agnostic | Neutral | 1 W | 30 dBm/500 KHz | 6 dBi | |
| Unlicensed | Fixed Point to Point Access Points | Neutral | 1 W | > 6 dBi | |||
| 5.850-5.925 | |||||||
Table 3 – Proposed NFAP IND 67-72 Remarks
| Range | Operation Mode | Applications | Deployment | Max. Trans. Power | Max. EIRP | Max. EIRP Density | Max. Ant. Gain |
| 5150-5250 | Unlicensed | Access Points | Indoor | 1W | 8 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |
| Outdoor | 1W | 125 mW (21dBm)
For angle > 30 |
17 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |||
| Fixed Point to Point Access Points | Neutral | 1 W | 23 dBi | ||||
| Mobile & Portable Devices | Neutral | 250 mW | 11 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |||
| 5250-5350 | Unlicensed | Application agnostic | Neutral | 250 mW | 11 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |
| 5350-5470 | ALLOCATED ESS | ||||||
| 5470-5725 | Unlicensed | Application agnostic | Neutral | 250 mW | 11 dBm/MHz | 6 dBi | |
| 5725-5875 | Unlicensed | Application agnostic | Neutral | 1 W | 30 dBm/500 KHz | 6 dBi | |
| Unlicensed | Fixed Point to Point Access Points | Neutral | 1 W | > 6 dBi | |||