Fundamentals of Spectrum You Have to Know to Perceive 5G Spectrum Public sale 2022

Spectrum Public sale 2022, an public sale that permits India to launch 5G, is hardly a couple of days away. Whereas shopper utilization of 5G is a distinct story that we could focus on later, all the focus now could be on the spectrum public sale. For these not from a technical background and who want to perceive the fundamentals of the spectrum within the context, this story may be of some assist as we tried to clarify the identical in layman’s phrases.

What’s Spectrum?

Spectrum refers back to the invisible radio frequencies that wi-fi alerts journey over. These alerts allow us to make calls, ship SMS, browse net pages, hearken to music, watch movies, and do all the pieces with connectivity on our cellular gadgets.

The unit for frequency is the hertz (Hz), 1 MHz = 10,00,000 Hz. Differing wavelengths and frequencies imply that the alerts have totally different properties and can be utilized in several methods. For instance, some journey a shorter distance however carry extra knowledge, and a few journey a farther distance however haven’t got a lot capability.

The spectrum is split into a lot of frequency bands, every possessing traits peculiar to it which decide the utilization applicable to that band. The numbering and naming conventions set by Worldwide Customary Organizations assist us to simply determine and confer with various kinds of frequencies.

Spectrum to be Auctioned in India

Rights to make use of spectrum at specified frequencies within the 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands for a interval of twenty years are being supplied on this Public sale. The spectrum which is auctioned is bought as ‘Paired’ – FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing) and ‘Unpaired’ (Time Division Duplexing) – TDD. You’ll be able to confer with the listing of bands used for telecom companies in India within the ‘Frequency Bands’ tab of the Spectrum sheet.

FDD Bands: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz

TDD Bands: 2300 MHz 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands

The Lane Visualisation

Merely put, you possibly can think about ‘paired’ as a two-way lane, the place in a single lane uplink occurs and downlink within the different, and ‘unpaired’ as a single lane the place each uplink and downlink occur utilizing the identical lane. Assume the block of spectrum put to public sale to the width of the lane for capability.

Block Measurement

Spectrum is auctioned in blocks, whose sizes are as beneath. The minimal bidding amount varies with new and current entrants and spectrum availability. A minimal of 5 MHz Block is required to supply 4G companies within the bands wherever possible. India has additionally skilled 4G on a 3 MHz Lean LTE provider with peak downlink speeds of round 12 Mbps on 1800 MHz Band.

Block Measurement for Bands:

0.2 MHz: 900 MHz, 1800 MHz
1.25 MHz: 800 MHz
5 MHz: 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 2100 MHz
10 MHz: 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz
50 MHz: 26 GHz

Block Multiples

5 Blocks of 0.2 MHz = 1 MHz
25 Blocks of 0.2 MHz = 5 MHz
4 Blocks of 1.25 MHz = 5 MHz

The spectrum being auctioned is liberalised in nature, and there are not any restrictions on the know-how (GSM/WCDMA/LTE/CDMA/IMT-2020 (5G know-how) to be deployed for offering companies. In brief, telcos can supply CDMA/2G/3G/4G/5G utilizing the spectrum bought by the public sale.

Understanding Paired Spectrum Block:

Let’s perceive paired spectrum by taking the 700 MHz band for instance.

Band: 700 MHz (Uplink: 718-748 MHz) (Downlink: 773-803 MHz)
Kind: Paired Spectrum, FDD (Frequency Division Duplexing)
Frequency put for Public sale: 25 MHz
Paired: Uplink channel + downlink channel

For instance, if a telco ‘A’ wins one block (second block to refer), i.e., 5 MHz of spectrum within the 700 MHz band, it’s going to imply that the telco is assigned 723-728 MHz (5 MHz) in uplink frequency paired with 778-783 MHz (5 MHz) in downlink frequency. Thus, the telco would be capable to use the 5 MHz for uplink and 5 MHz for downlink functions, 10 MHz in whole.

Therefore, it’s referred to as a paired spectrum as a consequence of this configuration the place a block of spectrum in a decrease frequency band and an related block of spectrum in an upper-frequency band are used collectively.

Within the FDD band, the spectrum is split into the uplink channel and downlink channel by dividing the frequency. In technical phrases, Frequency Division Duplexing is a way the place the transmitter/uplink and receiver/downlink function at totally different provider frequencies.

Understanding Unpaired Spectrum Block in India:

Let’s perceive the unpaired spectrum by taking the 2300 MHz band for instance.

Band: 2300 MHz (Frequency for industrial TSP: 2300-2380 MHz)

Complete Frequency: 80 MHz

Kind: Unpaired Spectrum, TDD (Time Division Duplexing)

To know this, allow us to say if telco ‘B’ wins one block of spectrum within the 2300 band (10 MHz) within the Andhra Pradesh circle. It will imply that the telco is assigned 2360-2370 MHz = 10 MHz unpaired spectrum. The telco can use this 10 MHz spectrum for each uplink and downlink functions.
Thus, a single frequency band is used for transmitting/uplink and receiving/downlink; a way the place the frequency is utilized by sharing and assigning alternate time slots for transmitting and receiving alerts.

Therefore it’s referred to as unpaired spectrum and Time Division Duplexing (TDD).

FDD/TDD:

After observing the above band configurations with examples, the definitions of FDD/TDD are prone to be simpler so that you can perceive.
FDD is carried out on a paired spectrum the place downlink and uplink transmissions are despatched on separate frequencies. In FDD, the transmission of uplink and downlink occurs concurrently.

TDD is carried out on an unpaired spectrum, implying the utilization of just one frequency for each downlink and uplink transmissions. TDD is appropriate for uneven transmission wants.

Band – Then and Now Transition

800 MHz Band – CDMA/EVDO > LTE Companies by Jio
900 MHz/1800 MHz Band – GSM/2G, 3G on 900 MHz by Airtel > refarmed for LTE Companies
2100 MHz Band – 3G Companies > 3G refarmed for LTE Companies
2300 MHz/2500 MHz – LTE Companies
600 MHz/700 MHz/3300 MHz/26 GHz – 5G Companies (to be rolled out commercially)

Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS):

Utilizing Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, telcos can seamlessly function 5G and 4G concurrently throughout the similar spectrum block. DSS allows service suppliers to dynamically share spectrum throughout totally different applied sciences. For example telco ‘A’ is providing 4G companies utilizing 20 MHz; the identical spectrum may be dynamically used to supply 5G companies. Though DSS isn’t associated to Spectrum Public sale, realizing it will assist you to perceive the know-how transition and spectrum utilisation.

So, spectrum configuration offers us an concept concerning the frequency, band plan, block measurement and mainly an handle and specification to determine the traits of the spectrum block being auctioned from an imaginary spectrum pool.