Phone companies will shortly look at the intervention of the telecom department for 5G standard.
To stop the adoption of an India-specific 5G standard.
It is backed by a local telecom standards agency, warning such a move could jack up 5G rollout.
Costs by almost 30-40% and make 5G phones exorbitant.
It can spoil the business case for 5G standard services in India.
Telcos are set to write to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
To urge that India aligns with the rest of the world.
It adopts the global 5G network standard already approved by the International Telecom Union (ITU).
5G ecosystem
To leverage global 5G ecosystem benefits to ensure cost-effective rollouts and availability of 5G devices at affordable rates.
They are likely to also caution the government that adoption of an India-centric 5G radio interface technology (RIT) standard.
It is proposed by the Telecom Standards Development Society India (TSDSI).
And could trigger serious interoperability issues between devices and networks.
That could in the future pose challenges for foreigners with 5G handsets to roam in India.
And for Indian 5G users to roam on overseas 5G networks.
He added that 5G gear and phones, in such a scenario, would be costly as handsets makers.
And global vendors will have to design and manufacture customized products.
These products are purely for the Indian market, which would translate into lower volumes.
Though, the TSDSI dismissed such concerns, saying there won’t be any cost implications.
As the enhancements require just a software change.
“There’s no rationale to the claim of an increase in cost” as there is no specific input (to suggest).
That a major cost impact is associated with the enhancement being proposed,” said TSDSI’s chairman, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi.
