Smartphone Makers Providing 5G Band Support in line with Telcos' Network Strategy

Smartphone makers like OnePlus and Realme said that they are launching smartphones in India with relevant 5G band support. The makers said that launching devices with global 5G band support will increase the prices for consumers.

Smartphone Makers Prioritizing India with 5G Band Support

Navnit Nakra, VP and Chief Strategy Officer, OnePlus India, said, "5G bands on 8 and 9 series have been decided based on Indian priority. N78 band is emerging as the priority band in India. The 5G message is very strong. Users will enjoy 5G in India and globally. Our intent for the Indian market is to provide 5G band support across the product line".

He also said that N78 will become one of the most used bands globally; research also shows that the majority of commercial 5G network will rely largely on the mid-band spectrum. This spectrum band balances coverage and speed, therefore forming the base of majority of the networks.

Madhav Sheth, CEO, Realme India, said that the brand will ensure C-band support, including N77 and N78 across its 5G portfolio along with various other 5G bands. He said, "across various price categories, we have support for multiple 5G bands, starting from our most affordable 5G smartphone. Realme 8 5G supports up to five 5G bands which are already more than what many 5G flagships in this country provide".

The N77 and N78 bands, operating within the mid-band frequency range, will massify 5G in India, Realme said. The smartphone maker also said that these bands allow smartphones in the ₹10,000 price point.

India's 5G Spectrum Situation

Telcos in India have spectrum from 2G to 4G. By using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, these bands can find use in deploying 5G NSA and SA, and for faster deployment. Indian telcos want OEMs to support all existing bands, along with the new 5G bands. Recently, telcos had urged the DoT to bring uniform guidelines to develop 5G ecosystem, saying that any new 5G smartphone launching in India must support all bands in India, including mmWave spectrum.

Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint, said, "if they launch 5G on these bands, devices should be there to support these bands. The chipsets are already supporting most of these bands and it's up to the OEMs to provide the band support. Adding these bands makes RF more complex and adds to BoM". He added that adding mmWave band will add more to the BoM. Therefore, smartphone makers should limit band support to premium devices.

As per Counterpoint, India may have an installed base of 30-40 million of 5G smartphones by the time the first commercial network goes live in the country. Pathak said that this is the first time device ecosystem is preceding network development at this big of a gap.

For now, 5G trials go on across the country. Reliance Jio has a trial network running its own 5G RAN and core. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are partnering with European vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.