Mint Explainer | Unlicensed band radio: What it means and why it could be a low-cost fix for home broadband woes

Now, Reliance Jio has introduced a new technology–unlicensed band radio (UBR)–to its backend systems to make home broadband “faster and more efficient”. Mint takes a look at Jio’s new technology for home broadband, and whether it will benefit users, and impact other telecom companies.

What is UBR tech?

At the earnings call with analysts on 18 June, Reliance Jio said it is the first to deploy point-to-multipoint UBR technology for home broadband. The technology works like a radio station, sending internet wirelessly from a central antenna placed on a tower to multiple homes or buildings at the same time. This is called unlicensed as it uses free radio waves or open spectrum, such as the 5 GHz band that is allowed for licence-free use.

Jio claims that this proprietary technology of the company has helped it accelerate the pace of monthly home connections to 1 million during the April-June quarter. The company said it has reached 20 million connected premises via home broadband using a combination of fibre, its AirFiber offerings and UBR.

Why is Jio taking a different tack for home broadband?

Jio is choosing a different route for home broadband because using only 5G and fibre has limits and is costly, it says. 5G networks are already busy with mobile users, and adding home broadband puts extra pressure on them, the company said.

There’s also limited 5G spectrum (radio space), which makes it hard to scale or customize services for home users. On the other hand, the fibre is prone to physical damage.

“Cost-wise, also, it (UBR) is more economical. Last-mile fibre is more expensive. So, in all those regards, it is going to be much more sustainable,” said Anshuman Thakur, senior vice president at Jio Platforms, during the earnings call.

According to Thakur, operators worldwide tried using the technology but did not succeed owing to less demand and therefore no scale. However, India is a fairly large market with over 300 million homes that will require broadband services, he said, adding that Jio’s target of 100 million home connections seems much more doable.

Since the reliance is on unlicensed spectrum, one of the biggest advantages for Jio would be to save on the spectrum usage charges (SUC).

What does it mean for consumers?

For users, UBR promises good fibre-like speeds of over 1 GB per second, without disruption in service due to cable cuts, according to Jio. It said unlike 5G network, the technology supports very high-end multicast applications.

The telecom operator does not see any material difference on the consumer premise equipment (CPE) or boxes through which the internet enters homes or buildings. The device price will be similar to FWA, Jio’s Thakur said, adding that the network equipment would be economical for the company.

Analysts, however, said there could be some cost savings for the consumers on the CPE. “This is a user-friendly technology. Currently, the cost of CPE used in FWA is high, but Wi-Fi routers are generally cheaper, and UBR uses those routers,” said Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

According to Gupta, home broadband services over UBR would improve service quality and reduce costs.

What does this mean for competition?

Besides Jio, only Bharti Airtel is using both 5G FWA and fibre to connect homes with broadband. Airtel has not yet shared plans to use UBR technology for providing home broadband services. Analysts, however, said it depends on the operators’ internal strategies in terms of what is driving maximum cost savings for them, and their spectrum deployment strategies, while ensuring service quality.

“This technology is largely seen as a way to save on costs for the companies,” Gupta said, adding that even Airtel may implement the same going forward.

“Jio has scaled FWA well with 6.5 million subscribers and its ability to use Unlicensed spectrum (UBR) should support further FWA subscriber adds with limited impact on its mobile network,” said brokerage house Jefferies in a note dated 18 July.

Analysts at Jefferies expect Jio’s mobile subscribers to reach 517 million and home broadband subscribers to reach 38 million by March 2027.

What are the challenges?

According to experts, there could be some technical challenges, such as interference and congestion issues, once it scales. “We cannot control interference in the unlicensed band. This spectrum is going to be common for all, and if you are giving broadband connectivity…and someone or some service is interfering with the channel at that time where the transmission is taking place, the speeds can go down,” said Parag Kar, an independent telecom analyst in a video analysis on YouTube.

According to Kar, even as Jio will be able to double the capacity by using the Wi-Fi band but if the network gets loaded, the service quality will be affected.

Therefore, risks such as maintaining quality of services over the long term, as it will be difficult to guarantee quality service owing to interference challenges, experts said.