India’s telecom department is surveying large enterprises on interest in private 5G spectrum licensing, reviving earlier plans amid improved 5G device availability and rising interest from system integrators.
In sum – what to know:
Demand response – the Indian DoT is polling firms worth ₹100+ Crores to gauge demand for directly licensed private 5G spectrum via TRAI, with a deadline of July 31.
Mature technology – earlier frameworks put most focus on operator-led spectrum sharing; the latest notice cites an improved device ecosystem and SI interest.
Carrier opposition – mobile operators, via COAI, have previously opposed direct enterprise licensing, citing interference, security, and compliance concerns.
The Indian government’s department of telecommunications (DoT) is polling large enterprises in the country to assess demand for directly-licensed spectrum for private 5G networks – in line with the mid-band spectrum carve-up for enterprises in Europe, the US, and elsewhere. It has invited enterprises with a “net-worth” of more than ₹100 Crores (units of 10 million; one billion rupees, in other words, which is somewhere north of $11.5m) to respond to a ‘demand survey’ to register their interest in ‘captive’ private 5G spectrum by July 31.
The move follows from a three-year old framework to make spectrum available to billion-rupee enterprises both directly via the national telecom regulator (TRAI) and indirectly via mobile operators. The initial guide, from June 2022, leaned heavily on mobile operators to make either local slices or tranches (leased or hosted) of their licensed spectrum available for enterprises to run dedicated local networks. But it also said enterprises should be able to lease local spectrum on a 10-year term directly via TRAI for a one-time processing fee of ₹50,000 (about $500).
Its new demand notice, from yesterday (June 30, 2025), suggests that a “lack of device ecosystem” in the proposed 3.7-3.8 GHz, 4.8-4.99 GHz, and 28.5-29.5 GHz bands had effectively curtailed the private 5G licensing process. The DoT said the device ecosystem for private 5G networks is now “mostly available”, and that 5G technology itself has “considerably advanced with different use cases”. As well, it notes “keen interest” from system integrators to supply these networks – referred to as ‘captive non-public networks’ (CNPNs) in its literature – to enterprises in the country.
The DoT has launched a new module on the Saralsanchar portal, open until July 31.
It wants to hear from enterprises that want to license private 5G spectrum either directly with TRAI, or via system integrators working via the same TRAI licensing regime. The move will presumably meet with strong opposition from mobile operators in the country – which have demanded that “tough conditions” should be imposed on enterprises seeking to sidestep big licensed carriers. This was the response from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to the initial framework three years ago, anyway – covered in the local business press (see here and here).
A non-subscription writeup from 2022, here, reports: “In a letter to the Telecom Department, COAI argued that since a decision to enable the captive networks through direct spectrum assignment has been taken, the government must now restrict scope of such non-public networks to machine-to-machine communication inside the specific premise and plant automation only. Such networks must ensure they do not cause interference to public networks.
“COAI said that from a national security perspective, these networks should comply with the prescribed subscriber verification norms, so as to ensure adequate verification and traceability for every user. Periodic audit to ensure compliance must be carried out, said COAI, whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.”
The 2022 report has more information, and is recommended, if interested – on the grounds simply that either, other good publications require logins, and other terrible (private 5G) publications get the facts all wrong.
