Jio in India Hopes to Use E-band for Mobile Services

According to media reports, Reliance Jie, India’s largest service provider, has written to the Indian Ministry of Telecommunications (DoT) requesting it to expand the usage range of the E-band (71GHz to 76GHz) spectrum to provide access services while continuing to use it for backhaul. This spectrum was administratively allocated to telecommunications companies by DoT last year to assist them with 5G backhaul.
According to reports, Jia suggests that the E-band spectrum can be used to provide high-speed broadband in areas where fiber laying is challenging. It also believes that this is consistent with recent global technological developments and the 3GPP standard.

This is very close to the consultation document on the allocation method of E and V frequency bands spectrum to be released by the Indian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRAI).
Although fiber optic is the preferred choice for 5G backhaul, it is neither practical nor cost-effective for remote and difficult to reach areas. India also faces a significant number of fiber optic cutting issues and challenges related to Right of Way (RoW) issues, making fiber optic deployment impractical.
The E-band spectrum emerged as a solution to these problems because it supports much higher capacity than traditional frequency bands. This is crucial as traffic continues to grow, requiring backhaul networks to provide better capacity. It supports a low latency throughput of 10Gbit/s and is very suitable for 5G transmission networks.
Several countries, including Germany and France, have launched 5G services using the E-band spectrum. ABI Research stated that it is expected that the number of global base station E-band links will increase from around 400000 in 2022 to over 2.5 million in 2027, connecting approximately one-third of the wireless backhaul links.
Usually, the return spectrum is administratively allocated to service providers. In India, telecommunications companies are enthusiastic about auctioning off this spectrum, while technology companies such as Google and Meta hope to license the E-band and V-band (57GHz to 64GHz). Service providers believe that if the E-band and V-band spectra are administratively allocated to technology companies, it will enable them to provide high-speed voice and data services, thereby affecting their investment returns.
Although TRAI previously used the same method for the E-band and V-band spectra, they may be treated differently in the upcoming consultation document. Due to the possibility of using the E-band spectrum to provide access/flow services, the spectrum is likely to be auctioned off. However, the V-band spectrum can still be allocated through administrative means, although India has not yet decided on which approach to adopt.