Cabinet nod to spectrum for Railways without TRAI reply
- Recently, the Indian Railways has sought an additional 5 MHz of paired spectrum in the 700 MHz band for safety purposes following the Balasore incident.
- The Cabinet has decided to reserve the spectrum, keeping it out of auctions, pending allocation.
Previous Spectrum Grants
- Previous spectrum grants to Railways only provided limited data transfer capacity, not sufficient to allow trains to continuously upload video footage for safety purposes.
- This necessitated the dumping of video footage at railway stations with WiFi connections.
- Railways emphasised the need for real-time data and video capture from moving trains to enhance safety measures.
Request for Additional Spectrum
- Dumping data at stations with high-capacity WiFi does not fulfil the objective of real-time data capture, especially during emergencies.
- Telecom networks can become congested during exigencies, hindering relief and restoration operations.
- The spectrum allocation would enable the implementation of various safety features and enhance passenger security, surveillance, and asset reliability.
Opposition from Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)
- COAI opposed free handouts of spectrum in the 700 MHz band, arguing that it's used for commercial telecom operations globally.
- It also expressed concerns about the adequacy of spectrum availability for technologies like 5G if allocated for non-telecom purposes.
TRAI's Recommendation
- TRAI suggested allocating a smaller slice of spectrum to Railways than requested and allowing telecom operators to utilize the spectrum without interfering with railway communications.
- Trains require limited spectrum capacity for data transmission along tracks, allowing for shared use of spectrum resources.
Prelims Takeaway
- Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)
- Train Collision Avoidance System
- TRAI