Spectrum woes for operators

Posted on | December 26, 2005 |

Spectrum is turning out to be the biggest bottleneck for Indian mobile operators as they grapple with network problems, poor voice quality and dropped calls.

GSM operators initially get 4.4 MHz of spectrum while CDMA operators get 2.5 MHz of spectrum. In case of GSM, operators with 10 lakh or more subscribers are eligible for a total of 10 MHz while CDMA operators get 5 MHz for 10 lakh subscribers. Since CDMA technology carries the voice in small packets, it can carry about five times more traffic and hence has a lower spectrum allocation.

However, as the number of mobile users is growing (average addition is close to 3m per month), spectrum is falling short of requirements and is not adequate to accommodate the increasing subscriber base.

For instance, cell sites (locations where base station equipment and their antennas are put up) should be at least 600-800 metres apart from each other to ensure there is no interference in calls.

“But due to inadequate spectrum, we have sites within 100 metres of each other, resulting in poor call quality,

Category: General

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