Recently awarded 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) licences in India will help accelerate the much-needed deployment of Mobile Broadband networks and services across the country, however additional spectrum is needed to deliver Mobile Broadband across India, according to GSMA.

These recent allocations would be instrumental in helping the Indian government to achieve its ambitious target of 20 million broadband subscribers by the end of this year.

GSMA argues that due to absence of fixed line infrastructure, additional low frequency spectrum in the digital dividend band (700MHz) should also be licensed to operators to deliver Mobile Broadband across India’s vast rural areas due to lower costs and quicker time to market as a result of less infrastructure build out. 

Though 70% of Indian population lives in rural areas; broadband facility is limited to metro and major cities. Availability of broadband is critical for development of rural areas. Out of total 9.0 million broadband subscribers at the end of April 2010, just 5% are in rural areas. The low broadband penetration in rural areas is attributed to non availability of transmission media connectivity upto village level.. Refer India issues Consultation Paper on National Broadband Plan for India's broadband requirement.

"To meet the growing demand for Internet access, the Indian government needs a comprehensive band plan strategy that will enable operators to roll out services in both highly populated and rural areas," said Jaikishan Rajaraman, Senior Director at the GSMA.

"This is best achieved through a combined frequency plan: low frequency spectrum, such as the digital dividend, is ideal for rural and in-building coverage; high frequency spectrum, like that recently licensed in the 2.1GHz and 2.3GHz bands, and the yet-to-be licensed 2.6GHz band, is ideal for ensuring coverage and capacity in densely populated areas" Rajaraman adds.

With India’s recent spectrum auctions, seven mobile operators are now licensed to deploy 3G/HSPA technology in the 2.1GHz band while six companies have secured BWA spectrum in the 2.3GHz band, which can be used to deploy WiMAX & LTE technologies.