The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has invited participation to study the demand for direct assignment of spectrum to set up 5G captive non-public networks (CNPN), a contentious issue that has pitted telcos against technology companies.

Willing participants can apply to be part of the exercise between August 10 and September 9, through a module launched on the Saralsanchar portal, the DoT said in a notification Wednesday.

DoT clarified that participation in this exercise will not entitle the enterprises any claim for any spectrum assignment.

President at Broadband India Forum, TV Ramachandran said he wonders why such a study is required at all.

 “There was no such demand study for the public networks of 5G, 4G, 3G or 2G. We need to implement 5G CNPN with the option of direct spectrum to enterprises, so that India can move to Industry 4.0 expeditiously,” he said.

He pointed out that there were 794 such private networks in the rest of the world. “Prorata potential for India could be 150-200 private networks.”

The government had issued the ‘Guidelines for Captive Non-Public Network (CNPN) licence’ on June 27, which aimed at establishing the legal framework for CNPNs.

Under the guidelines, enterprises seeking to establish CNPN may obtain spectrum on lease from telecom service providers or directly from DoT. These guidelines also provide that DoT will undertake demand studies for direct assignments of spectrum to enterprises setting up CNPNs.

Enterprises having a net worth of more than Rs 100 crore and willing to set up CNPNs by obtaining spectrum directly from DoT are invited to participate in this exercise.

Eligible and willing enterprises are required to submit the details such as ownership, net worth, proposed locations, requirement of spectrum in various bands etc through the module.

CNPNs can play a key role in developing industries by providing secure, ultra-reliable, low latency and high throughput communication using advanced technologies, DoT said.

The issue of direct allocation of spectrum to enterprises for setting up CNPNs has been a bone of contention between the telcos and the tech companies since before the Cabinet approved it in June this year.

In the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for the 5G spectrum auctions, the DoT said that enterprises could look at direct spectrum allocation as an option for CNPN deployment.

Since then, the two industry bodies—the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) representing the telcos and the BIF representing the tech companies—have been at loggerheads.

In a volley of letters to the authorities, the two have argued cases for and against the direct allocation of spectrum to enterprises. While the COAI has argued that such a practice would deprive telcos of valuable enterprise revenues, and that the telcos are fully capable of providing CNPN services on their own, BIF has maintained that enterprises should have the freedom of choice for selecting whom to work with.

COAI did not respond to ET queries on the demand studies at press time.

Analysts have said that the potential 5G enterprise revenue opportunity for telcos in India—estimated by Sweden’s Ericsson at US$17 billion by 2030—will take a dip if large tech players enter the captive 5G networks game.

“Direct spectrum allotment to enterprises is a contentious issue and could be negative for telcos’ future 5G monetisation from enterprises even as its use cases are still being developed,” Credit Suisse said in a report.