India looks to finalise list of 5G spectrum bands for ITU meet

The government will shortly finalise a master list of spectrum bands that India will push for deployment in 5G telecom services at the International Telecom Union’s upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference-2019 in Egypt. The matter will be discussed at a high-level inter-ministerial meeting on June 17, which will be chaired by a top official of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) wireless planning cell, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told ET. At the meeting, senior officials of DoT, the Department of Space, Indian Space Research Organisation, Doordarshan, defence ministry and Airports Authority of India (AAI) will try to build consensus on new bands that can be identified and backed for 5G rollouts at WRC-19. Senior executives of phone companies, network vendors and chip makers will also be present.