Jio, Airtel and Vi File strong objection against US Tech Giants, say opposition to 6GHz mobile use will damage India’s Digital Growth

Indian telecom operators and US tech giants are locked in a dispute over the 6GHz spectrum, with telcos seeking licensed mobile use while global tech firms push for unlicensed Wi-Fi allocation.

Indian telecom companies Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have petitioned the government, saying six major U.S.-based tech companies – Apple, Amazon, Cisco, Meta, HP, and Intel – have been “vehemently and vociferously opposing” India’s long-term interests of mobile broadband deployment.

The six big tech companies have opposed the allocation of the much-awaited 6 GHz spectrum band for future mobile services, a claim refuted by the internet companies, who said that the 6 GHz band should continue to remain unlicensed and exclusively be put to Wi-Fi use.

U.S. tech companies have already made a joint submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the matter. In their collective filing, the tech companies had submitted that the spectrum in the 6 GHz band “should not be made available for mobile (IMT) services at this stage as it is not technically and commercially ready for it.”

They recommended the government to withhold any plans to auction these frequencies – “specifically 6425–6725 MHz and 7025–7125 MHz” – in the near future. At the same time, they want unlicensed use of the 6 GHz spectrum to start as soon as possible. They also recommend that any “surplus” spectrum not immediately put to Wi-Fi use should be released for unlicensed use in the future.

Indian telcos, in their counter to the tech companies’ request, have strongly said they do not want the spectrum to be “delicensed.”

Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea, who are part of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), have told the government in a statement that “delicensing” would result in “an irreversible path which would preclude the use of the said bands for licensed mobile use in the future, and would forever impair and handicap India’s ability to scale cost-efficient mobile broadband in the future.”

It said unlicensed Wi-Fi deployments being promoted by foreign OTT (over-the-top) players and device companies would also unfairly distort the competitive balance between foreign tech companies and domestic telcos in India.

COAI also stated that a “delicensing of the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use is an across-the-board and irrevocable give-away of public national resource, which would permanently foreclose the licensed mobile broadband option.”

Jio, in its own separate application to the government, has said the entire 1,200 MHz of the 6 GHz spectrum needs to be auctioned for mobile use in India. In contrast, Vodafone Idea wants the 400 MHz, that is currently available in the country, to be made available to telcos at the earliest.

Airtel has made a more cautious pitch and has asked for the auction to be deferred for now on the ground of device readiness and global harmonization.

Chipset major Qualcomm, too, has given in a recommendation in favour of Airtel, saying it would be better for India to defer the auction until after the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-27) in 2027.

Qualcomm has said that this move would “better position India for the future and not compromise its desire for technological leadership by undermining its 6G aspirations.”