No extra spectrum needed to maintain network stability, quality: COAI

Industry body COAI on Wednesday said that telcos are of the view that there is no requirement of additional spectrum to maintain stability and quality of telecom networks amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to combat the spread of coronavirus. The recent slew of measures, including streaming services switching content to SD (standard definition) and traffic redistribution, has led to reduced pressure on networks, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) said.

Earlier, COAI had written to the Telecom Department seeking its support for additional spectrum. In a letter to Department of Telecom (DoT) on March 20, COAI had flagged the need for "additional spectrum, both access and backhaul microwave, for short term, that is, on temporary basis, to augment capacity as more data capacity would be required while people work from their homes".

However, in a statement on Wednesday, COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said, "Over the past few days, the industry, in concern with actions coordinated with the Department of Telecom (DoT), has seen a flattening of traffic demand on member’s networks. "Some of these actions relate to streaming services reducing their content from HD to SD, local municipalities working with operators to bring sealed towers back on line, some redistribution of traffic on the network, among other things." As a result, operators believe there is no present need to request for any additional spectrum, Mathews said.

"Based on the present condition of member networks, we believe there is no such present need and operators remain confident the steps they have taken presently can maintain the reliability and quality of their networks and services," he added. The industry association had last month written to the government urging issuance of instructions to streaming platforms to initiate measures that will ease the burden on network infrastructure, needed for "critical" functions.

Following this, video streaming platforms like Netflix and social networking giant Facebook had said they will reduce bit rates for videos on their platforms as part of their efforts to help mitigate mobile and broadband network congestion. Netflix had said it will reduce traffic on telecommunications networks by 25 per cent while maintaining the quality of service for users in India, while Facebook had said it will temporarily reduce bit rates for videos on Facebook and Instagram in India.

Companies like Amazon Prime Video also said they are temporarily lowering bit rates, a measure of how much data is being transferred, to ease pressure on telecom network infrastructure. In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 announced a complete lockdown of the entire country for 21 days to try halt the spread of coronavirus, shortly after which the Centre said road, rail and air services will remain suspended during this period.

As on early Wednesday, the pandemic had claimed 38 lives in the country and number of COVID-19 cases had increased to 1,637 in India..