Reliance Infotel Broadband licensees of BWA Spectrum in 2300MHz band have written to the DoT seeking permission to conduct Voice Services over its 40 LTE/ 4G enabled Locations across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. They have also sought for Blocks of Phone Numbers for the same. However, one is skeptical about the Legality of the Voice over LTE / IP Calls and lets us see if Reliance can pass this hurdle.
According to BWA Spectrum Auction Notice Inviting Applications, DoT clarified during the Queries and Response as explained here. Further, in Question 86, 140, 254, DoT further clarifies on Voice Services using LTE Spectrum as below
Thus its is safe to conclude that VoIP (restricted to PCs only) can be offered using ISP License and to terminate calls originating from Reliance / Airtel LTE Network on to a Mobile or PSTN the operators need UAS License. Also, the new telecom policy 2012 is planning to allow unrestricted (phone-to-phone) VoIP as well.
Can Reliance Infotel Broadband Offer Ubiquitous Coverage for Voice / Video Calls ?
Video Calls have not really taken off well even on 3G networks. Thus, let us keep our study restricted to analyze Voice Calls Ubiquitous Coverage across Cities / Towns / Villages. Let us see the costs involved in establishing with various cases as detailed below.
900MHz Spectrum – With 5 MHz of Paired Spectrum in this band, an operator can cover ~16 Sq Km with 175 simultaneous calls per cell site
1800MHz Spectrum – With 5 MHz of Paired Spectrum in this band, an operator can cover only ~8 Sq Km with 175 simultaneous calls per cell site
LTE 230MHz Spectrum – With 20 MHz of UnPaired Spectrum in this band, an operator can cover ~14 Sq Km with 50 simultaneous calls per cell site
To attain a coverage area ~70% of India’s Land Area and offer Ubiquitous Mobile Voice Services, LTE Operator like Reliance Infotel has to invest ~3x times than a 900MHz / 1800MHz GSM Mobile Operator. Stay tuned, we’ll reveal the Reliance Network rollout Strategy after few more articles educating on how Global LTE landscape is spanning out.