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Amidst the expansion of 4G network in the country, Airtel and Tata Group company Tejas Network have come face to face. Airtel has accused Tejas that the equipment being used in BSNL’s 4G deployment is interfering with its network. More than a technical dispute, the matter is now highlighting the challenge of self-reliance in the industry.
New Delhi. Two big companies of India have come face to face regarding 4G telecom. This time the issue is said to be the installation of low quality equipment. Bharti Airtel has claimed in a letter sent to Tata Group company Tejas Network that the 800 MHz band equipment being installed for BSNL is causing interference in its 900 MHz network. According to the report, Airtel said in a letter sent on November 14 that due to this problem, the quality of its service in Rajasthan circle is being affected since December last year. The company alleges that despite repeated technical meetings, joint tests and instructions, no improvements were made. Airtel says that this interference is directly being caused by poor quality equipment of Tejas, which is sending waves beyond the prescribed frequency limits.
Big technical difference on frequency plan
Airtel also said in its letter that the problem is related to a flaw in the filter design of Tejas. According to this, Tejas’ filters are based on the international range of 864-894 MHz, whereas in India the 800 MHz downlink range is fixed at 869-889 MHz. Airtel argues that this misalignment is causing excess emissions to enter its 900 MHz network. The company says that such devices do not follow the Indian frequency plan, due to which network stability is at risk.
Cleaning of Tejas – Our equipment is in accordance with the rules
Tejas Network has rejected all the allegations of Airtel. The company says that its equipment fully follows 3GPP standards and technical specifications of BSNL. Tejas called it not a hardware flaw but a case of historical spectrum overlap. According to the company, some frequency bands in Rajasthan are close to each other, which is causing the problem. To overcome this issue, it is working on additional filtering in collaboration with DoT, Airtel and BSNL.
Challenges increased in the era of indigenous telecom gear
This entire controversy has come to light at a time when the government is promoting the use of domestic telecom equipment. BSNL has been given the responsibility of completely adopting indigenous technology for 4G rollout, in which companies like C-DoT, TCS and Tejas are involved. However, this incident shows how big a challenge technical balancing and spectrum management is in implementing indigenous technology on a large scale. According to experts, if such disputes increase, it may affect cooperation between private companies and government projects.
