Spectrum tug-of-war: Telecom vs tech in the 6 GHz battle

By Vernika Awal

India’s Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recently approved refarming 687 megahertz (MHz) of telecommunications spectrum to add more airwave capacity to the telecommunications industry landscape. The move is largely designed to fill up the necessary capacity for additional spectrum, which the domestic telecommunications firms have been after for some time now. However, while additional spectrum needs were kosher, not every party was satisfied with the move.

While the telecommunications ministry deemed the move essential and the domestic telecom industry lauded it, the technology industry, led by industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF), deemed the auctioning of airwaves in the 6 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum detrimental to the health of the domestic technology ecosystem.

Announcing this at the DIGICOM Summit 2025 organised in New Delhi by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Voice&Data, the Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “We have approved refarming of 687 MHz (of the spectrum), which means that this takes us from 900 MHz (of spectrum available now) to 1,587 MHz. Of this, 320 MHz will be released immediately; some more will be released by the end of next year (2026), and the rest by the end of 2028-29—which makes us ready for 2030.”

“We have approved refarming of 687 MHz (of the spectrum), which means that this takes us from 900 MHz (of spectrum available now) to 1,587 MHz.”

JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA, Union Minister for Communications, Government of India

Even with this, though, Scindia said India may need more spectrum in the long run. “This still leaves us with a gap of roughly 300 MHz of spectrum. So, our ask is not over yet. In the second round of this (spectrum refarming exercise), a committee of secretaries will be working on it (planning the spectrum availability), the report of which will come by the middle of this year. We will take all steps to ensure that there are no bottlenecks for our digital telecom landscape to grow in India,” the minister said.

The Nuts and Bolts

To be sure, spectrum refarming refers to the process of reusing spectrum bands that are available for newer or additional communications usage. In India, all of the spectrum is held by the central government, which subsequently makes it available to either selective ministerial applications only or broader industrial usage by private companies—either through a ministerial auction model or through administrative allocation.

The exercise is necessary to free up additional airwaves in the Indian telecommunications ecosystem right now. With a burgeoning number of users in India, additional spectrum availability is key to reducing the congestion of networks in the country and leaving scope for the expansion of future services.

“Now, between 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, we have roughly about 900 MHz. That means we will have a deficit of 1100 MHz spectrum by 2030, not today,” Scindia said. India is targeting a total spectrum capacity of 2000 MHz for private telecom operators by the end of this decade.

Beyond the current decision, additional spectrum refarming needs will also be worked upon by the same working group of the committee of secretaries, which includes Telecom Secretary Dr Neeraj Mittal, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S Krishnan, and more. Media reports have claimed that most of the refarmed spectrum will come from the Ministry of Defence, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)—two of India’s biggest users of airwaves through satellite communications and connectivity.

Where Does the Debate Lie?

While the issuance of additional requisite spectrum is not the point of contention, what has been raised as a thorn on the back of India’s technology industry is spectrum in the coveted 6 GHz spectrum band.

Lt Gen (retd) Dr SP Kochhar, Director General of COAI, said in a statement following Scindia’s announcement, “We are very happy to note that the Cabinet has already allocated the spectrum that takes our holding to 320 MHz in the first phase, thus leaving a deficit of around 400 MHz. This should be made up in the subsequent submissions by the committee of secretaries to the Cabinet.”

However, BIF, as stated before, is not particularly thrilled. This is largely because access to the 6 GHz band is deemed crucial for global technology firms to operate Wi-Fi routers, smart devices such as Amazon’s Alexa range of speakers, connected appliances such as Samsung’s smart refrigerators, and more. With the Centre’s decision to make the band available to telecom operators through an auction model, technology firms would either need to circumvent the 6 GHz band altogether—a key factor why Wi-Fi 7 has not been released in India yet, or sub-lease spectrum from the band from telecom operators at unfavourable pricing that may not be sustainable for smaller technology brands.

Most of the refarmed spectrum will come from the Ministry of Defence and ISRO—which are two of the biggest users of airwaves in India.

TV Ramachandran, President of BIF, said in a statement shortly following Scindia’s announcement that auctioning the 6 GHz band to ‘international mobile telecommunications’ (IMT) operators or telecom firms could leave access to this crucial band to “non-trusted sources.”

“India is aggressively forging ahead with its vision of becoming a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and a leading digital economy. This requires high digitalisation in all the key sectors of the economy. IMT in the 6 GHz band can not only not meet the advanced requirements of digitalisation of the key sectors of the economy in manufacturing, agriculture, health, education and others but also poses a grave security threat to our nation in the outsourcing of requisite telecom infrastructure equipment to predominantly ‘non-trusted’ countries or sources,” Ramachandran said.

The official’s statement is largely linked to the fact that a dominating subset of the requisite infrastructure and components in the domestic telecommunications industry are sourced from global vendors, including China. This could give geopolitically sensitive partners access to a crucial airwave resource in India.

“As against this, the ‘delicensed’ 6 GHz (band) can easily meet India’s requirement, as the ecosystem for the same is globally available and deployed in over 84 countries. We strongly urge the government to immediately delicense the lower 500 MHz band of 6 GHz band, and an additional 160 MHz from the 300 MHz held back until 2030,” Ramachandran further added.

To be sure, BIF’s members include Amazon, Google, Intel, Meta and Qualcomm, among others—all of which will gain from access to the 6 GHz band in India by being able to freely bring the latest generation of Wi-Fi products and chips to the country. Media reports have cited executives at Qualcomm to underline how the lack of access to the 6 GHz band prevents the full-scale release of the Wi-Fi 7 standard in India. As explained before, if the same band is auctioned away to the telecom operators, the tech firms could likely be at a disadvantage.

“The need for wider bandwidth channels like 320 MHz is indispensable. The 6 GHz band is uniquely positioned to provide the requisite spectrum for these high-bandwidth, cutting-edge applications. Delicensed the 6 GHz band will empower India to harness cutting-edge applications, drive economic growth, and ensure digital self-reliance. The band complements ultra-wide broadband networks, thus enhancing their speeds, data capacities and efficacy. Larger channel bandwidths, of 320MHz, can improve the consumer experience for streaming, gaming and other bandwidth-heavy services,” an adjoining note issued by BIF claimed.

The note claimed that instead of auctioning the airwaves to telcos, allocating them across industries can help the Centre earn Rs 5.2 lakh crore (USD 60 billion) per year in incremental revenue from the technology sector alone—urging the Centre to reconsider the decision.

The telecom ministry, however, has not made any acknowledgment from the technology industry. For now, the way forward is clearly in favor of telecom operators. If any of the verdicts swing either way, is a decision that only time will tell.

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