NEW DELHI: The Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), an association of the three major private telecom service providers in the country, urged the government to intervene against the illegal sale of Wi-Fi 6E wireless routers in the country via e-commerce websites and online platforms to consumers.
The association; which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea; in a letter to the Department of Telecommunications sale of such Wi-Fi 6E products, which utilizes 6 GHz spectrum band in delicensed manner, is illegal. These routers operate on 6GHz band, whose use has not been assigned for purpose of providing Wi-Fi, nor has it been designated licence-exempt, telcos argue.
“We would like to submit that DoT is yet to take a policy decision related to the 6 GHz band utilization. Therefore, any sale of such Wi-Fi 6E products, which utilizes the 6 GHz spectrum band in delicensed manner, is illegal and such sale would only result in unauthorized transmissions in our country,” said SP Kochhar, Director-General, COAI.
TP-Link, Deco, Netgear, and Google, among others, are the vendors selling Wi-Fi 6E routers in India via platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Moglix, and others, as per the data presented by the telco industry association. Kochhar said as per provisions of the Telecom Act, 2023, the central government is the owner of the spectrum and the use of spectrum by any person requires assignment from the central government.