KOLKATA|NEW DELHI: Indian telcos have scored a crucial victory on the road to 5G. The International Telecom Union ( ITU ) has dismissed a proposal of the Department of Telecommunications – pushed by the Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ) – to restrict transmission power of 5G mobile base stations, and has upheld the view of the telecom industry at the World Radio Communications-2019 conference in Egypt.ITU’s global regulation paves the way for mobile phone companies to deploy the coveted 26 GHz millimetre wave band for ringing in affordable 5G services in India. It also paves the way for DoT to auction these premium airwaves for 5G services in the next sale, especially since the government has sufficient quantum of this coveted spectrum.Telcos in recent months had protested ISRO’s suggestion to the government to forcefully cut the transmission power of a 5G base station running on the 26 GHz band. They had warned DoT that acceptance of such a proposal would exponentially raise deployment costs and kill the 5G business case on the premium 26 GHz millimetre wave band in India.“The upshot of ITU’s global regulation is that there is no restriction on a 5G mobile base station operating on the 26 GHz band to transmit at the normal level of 60 dbm…this effectively rejects ISRO’s suggestion to the telecom department to cut the transmission power to 37 dbm,” a top industry executive, who participated in the WRC-2019 conference in Egypt, told ET. Another person familiar with the matter said, “it is an international treaty, and will require all countries, including India to comply”.A normal 5G base station transmits at 60 dbm (including the antenna gain). ISRO wanted that cut to 37 dbm as it requires a small slug of 26 GHz spectrum for satellite services and wants zero interference from 5G mobile networks in future. The radiated transmission power of base station antennae is measured in dbms. Another senior telco executive said, “the ITU regulation should now empower DoT to consider auctioning 26 GHz millimetre-wave spectrum band for 5G services in the next sale”.The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) - which represents Reliance Jio Infocomm Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - had recently written to telecom secretary Anshu Prakash that restricting the transmission power of 5G base stations (operating in the 26 GHz band) to 37 dbm (instead of the normal level of 60 dbm), on ISRO’s suggestion, would “increase 5G deployment costs in India by at least 16 times, increasing the service price for the end-consumer, making 5G services unaffordable”.It had also urged Prakash to direct the head of Indian delegation at WRC-2019 to support the 26 GHz band for 5G services as India has a whopping 3250 Mhz of airwaves in this premium band, as opposed to merely 175 units in the 3.5 GHz band that the government plans to auction.The DoT has earmarked spectrum in the 3.3-3.6 GHz band for 5G services but the industry wants it to also auction 26 GHz spectrum for the ultra-fast wireless broadband service. The Digital Communications Commission has yet to take a call on auction details.At press time, ET’s queries to the COAI, ISRO and DoT remained unanswered. An ITU spokesperson said the agency won't be able to respond immediately. As per GSMA estimates, millimeter wave-based 5G services will account for $212 billion of GDP growth in APAC by 2034. Of this, South and South East Asia will account for $45 billion of GDP growth, with the growth largely generated by India.Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal had recently told ET that millimeter-wave spectrum is important as it offers a comparatively larger chunk of spectrum. “The global standard deployment will move towards 26 Ghz (millimeter wave) as well as 3.5Ghz. The global standard deployment will move towards 26Ghz (millimeter wave) as well as 3.5Ghz," Vittal had said.