Govt to de-license spectrum for 2 Wi-Fi tech

The government, in what may give a boost to wireless communications, is considering to de-license spectrum for two new wireless technology standards 802.11(a) and 802.11(g).

Besides, the government is also planing to allow the use of 802.11 (b), which is now allowed only for indoor communications use, for outdoor commercial purpose.

"We are considering to de-license two wireless standards 802.11(a) and 802.11 (g) to offer more spectrum for the outdoor use wireless communication which needs more bandwidth and capacity," P K Garg, wireless advisor, department of telecom, said here at a conference organised by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (Mait).

Besides, the government is also considering allowing wireless communication at 5 ghtz for commercial purpose. "The earth observing satellites use this frequency. Before opening it for the commercial use, we want to see, whether it would impact the operations of these satellites," he said.

He said trials are on to see if such de-licencing will cause any harm to the interfaces present in the network.

"802.11(a) and (g) would need more bandwidth and if it is found during trials that both these protocols could exist in multiple network scenario, then we can delicense outdoor usage of wireless communication technology. We are considering all these issues with an open mind", Garg said.