There is not a shred of doubt that the mmWave (millimetre wavelength) 5G will be useless for normal consumers. There are a lot of things that hint towards a scenario that says that the telcos might not bring mmWave 5G for normal consumers at all. First of all, there is the question of spectrum pricing in the auction that is expected to take place during Summer this year. Then, we all must remember that mmWave spectrum bands are too fragile. This means that they can be easily disturbed through objects and other things such as trees, walls, etc. The coverage with mmWave bands is expected to be as low as 200 metres to 250 metres with a single site. Thus, the telcos will have to invest more in small cells, which would be very expensive if they want to offer mmWave 5G in a complete city or town.
Telcos to Largely Go for Sub-6 GHz 5G in India and Across the World
It is not just in India, but the telecom operators across the world will look to go for 5G rollout with sub-6 GHz bands because it will be more practical for the users. Further, it will also cost less to the telcos compared to mmWave 5G. Most users won’t even have the need for sub-6 GHz 5G networks if they live in a strong 4G network coverage zone. But even if the users do want to test out 5G, the mmWave 5G doesn’t make sense as no user wants 1 Gbps speed (example only) for browsing Instagram. Thus, investing in mmWave 5G won’t be good for the business of the telecom operators in the first place. mmWave 5G would be more attractive for the enterprises and smart facilities which want to create an internal network for communication. 5G spectrum auction will determine how costly the 5G rollout is going to be for the telcos. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is currently working on submitting the recommendations to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for the 5G spectrum auctions.
