Road safety push: Tech companies urge govt to delicense portion of 5.9 GHz band for V2V deployment

The forum also urged the ministry not to delay the decision by seeking recommendations from TRAI. “It is a precedent in the Ministry do delicense frequency bands without seeking the explicit recommendations of TRAI. Referring the matter to TRAI at this stage is likely to introduce significant delays, as TRAI typically undertakes an exhaustive consultation process before arriving at a decision,” Ramachandran said.

BIF’s members include US tech majors like Google, Meta, Amazon, Qualcomm, Intel and satcom firms like Hughes, Nelco and OneWeb.

India’s road safety crisis underscores the urgency. According to MoRTH’s 2023 report, the country recorded 4.62 lakh road crashes and 1.70 lakh fatalities in one year. Many Indian carmakers, including Mahindra and Tata, have already started pre-fitting OBUs in vehicles, it said.

Road crashes killed 1.68 lakh people and injured 4.43 lakh in 2022 alone, costing 3.14% of India’s GDP in medical expenses, productivity loss, and social impacts. Globally, road accidents claim 1.19 million lives and cause up to 50 million injuries annually.

BIF said advanced vehicular communication technologies such as C-V2X, based on the globally harmonised 3GPP standard, and V2V using the 5.9 GHz ITS band, are central to achieving the ‘Vision Zero’ target. V2V systems allow vehicles to exchange real-time data on speed, direction, braking, and position, enabling drivers and onboard systems to detect hazards in advance. Beyond safety, these systems can optimise traffic flow, reduce congestion, and improve transport efficiency.

Several countries have already rolled out or are deploying V2V solutions. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates such systems can cut accidents by 13%, preventing nearly 439,000 crashes each year. For India, where road fatalities remain among the highest globally, the benefits could be transformative.

An inter-ministerial task force under MoRTH and TEC has already recommended urgent release of 5.9 GHz spectrum for V2V in a license-exempt manner. The Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) wing has suggested delicensing 30 MHz in the 5875–5925 MHz band for OBUs, while leaving V2I to be licensed under TRAI consultation, given the need for infrastructure management across NHAI, state, district, and municipal authorities.

BIF reiterated that V2V spectrum must be delicensed without delay since it directly impacts safety and is already covered under the National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP). It emphasised that OBUs in this band are being pre-installed by Indian manufacturers, and interoperability between vehicles of different makes (e.g., Toyota and Suzuki) makes licensing impractical.

Cautioning that the  TRAI consultation could cause unnecessary delays, BIF noted that DoT has previously delicensed bands without waiting for TRAI. “Without delicensing, large-scale deployment will stall, delaying life-saving benefits,” the body said.

Reiterating its appeal, BIF urged the minister to delicense the 30 MHz spectrum in the 5875–5905 MHz range for OBUs, while handling V2I licensing through TRAI. It said such a move would unlock investment, foster indigenous innovation, and most importantly, save lives by cutting India’s road accident toll and its staggering human and economic costs.