The Use of Wireless Access System including Radio Local Area Network in 5 GHz Band (Exemption from Licensing Requirement) Rules, 2018

EXTRAORDINARY PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS (Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing) NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 18th October, 2018 G.S.R. 1048(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by sections 4 and 7 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) and sections 4 and 10 of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933) and in supersession of notification under G.S.R. 46(E), dated the 28th January, 2005 and notification under G.S.R. 36(E), dated the 10th January, 2007 and notification under G.S.R. 38(E), dated the 19 th January, 2007, the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely: 1. Short title and commencement.— (1) These rules may be called the Use of Wireless Access System including Radio Local Area Network in 5 GHz band (Exemption from Licensing Requirement) Rules, 2018. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Definitions.— In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, — (a) “Act” means the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885); (b) “Authority” means the authority notified by the Central Government under sub-section (2) of section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885); (c) “access point” means a transceiver that operates either as a bridge in a peer-to-peer connection or as a connector between the wired and wireless segments of the network; (d) “dynamic frequency selection” means a mechanism that dynamically detects signals from other systems and avoids co-channel operation with these systems, notably radar systems; (e) “equivalent isotropic radiated power” or “e.i.r.p” means the total power that would have to be radiated by a hypothetical isotropic antenna to give the same signal strength as the actual source in the direction of the antennas strongest beam; (f) “emission bandwidth” means the 26 dB bandwidth of the modulated signal measured relative to the maximum level of the modulated carrier; (g) “maximum power spectral density” means the maximum power within the specified measurement bandwidth, within the device operating band; measurements in the 5 725-5 875 MHz band are made over a bandwidth of 500 kHz; measurements in the 5 150-5 250 MHz, 5 250-5 350 MHz, and 5 470-5 725 MHz bands are made over a bandwidth of 1 MHz or 26 dB emission bandwidth of the device, whichever is less; (h) “maximum conducted output power” means the sum of the transmit power delivered to all antennas and antenna elements averaged across all symbols in the signaling alphabet when the transmitter is operating at its maximum power level; if multiple modes of operation are possible (e.g., alternative modulation methods), the maximum conducted output power is the highest total transmit power occurring in any mode; (i) “power spectral density” means the power spectral density is the total energy output per unit bandwidth from a pulse or sequence of pulses for which the transmit power is at its maximum level, divided by the total duration of the pulses and the total time does not include the time between pulses during which the transmit power is off or below its maximum level; (j) “transmit power control” means a feature that enables a device to dynamically switch between several transmission power levels in the data transmission process; (k) “device” means the intentional radiators operating in the frequency bands 5 150-5 250 MHz, 5 250-5 350 MHz, 5 470-5 725 MHz and 5 725-5 875 MHz that use wideband digital modulation techniques and provide a wide array of high data rate in mobile and fixed communications for individuals, businesses, and institutions; (l) words and expressions used in these rules and not defined but defined in the “Act” and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933), shall have the same meanings respectively as assigned to them in those Acts. 3. Exemption.— No licence shall be required under indoor and outdoor environment to establish, maintain, work, possess or deal in any wireless equipment for the purpose of low power wireless access systems, including radio local area networks operating in the frequency band 5 150-5 250 MHz; 5 250-5 350 MHz; 5 470-5 725 MHz; and 5 725-5 875 MHz and complying with the following technical parameters; namely:- (i) in the band 5 150-5 250 MHz, for access points operating with transmitting antennas of antenna gain of 6 dBi and less, the maximum conducted output power over the frequency band of operation shall not exceed 30 dBm (1 Watt) and; the maximum power spectral density shall not exceed 17 dBm (50 mW) in any 1 MHz band. If transmitting antennas of directional gain greater than 6 dBi are used, the maximum conducted output power and the maximum power spectral density shall be reduced by the amount in dB that the antenna gain exceeds 6 dBi. When used for outdoor access point applications, the maximum e.i.r.p. at any elevation angle above 30 degrees as measured from the horizontal direction shall not exceed 21 dBm (125 mW); (ii) fixed point-to-point access points operating in the frequency band 5 150-5 250 MHz may employ antennas with directional gain up to 23 dBi and use the maximum conducted output power and maximum power spectral density as indicated at sub-paragraph (i) above. With access points’/ devices’ directional antenna gain higher than of 23 dBi, maximum conducted output power and maximum power spectral density shall be reduced by the amount in dB that the antenna gain exceeds 23 dBi; point-to-multipoint systems, omni directional applications, and multiple collocated transmitters transmitting the same information shall not be considered as point-to-point systems for the purpose of these rules; (iii) for mobile and portable client devices in the 5 150-5 250 MHz band, the maximum conducted output power over the frequency band of operation shall not exceed 250 mW provided the maximum antenna gain does not exceed 6 dBi and in addition, the maximum power spectral density shall not exceed 11 dBm in any 1 MHz band; if transmitting antennas of directional gain greater than 6 dBi are used, both the maximum conducted output power and the maximum power spectral density shall be reduced by the amount in dB that the directional gain of the antenna exceeds 6 dBi; (iv) in the frequency bands 5 250 – 5 350 MHz and 5 470- 5 725 MHz for access points operating with transmitting antennas of antenna gain 6 dBi and less, the maximum conducted output power over the frequency band of operation shall not exceed 24 dBm (250 mW) or 11dBm + 10 log B, whichever is less, where ‘B’ is the emission bandwidth in MHz. In addition, the maximum power spectral density shall not exceed 11dBm in any 1 MHz band. If transmitting antennas of directional gain greater than 6 dBi are used, the maximum conducted output power and the maximum power spectral density shall be reduced by the amount in dB that the directional gain of the antenna exceeds 6 dBi. The use of appropriate interference mitigation technique dynamic frequency selection and or transmit power control shall be mandatory. Transmit power control mechanism may not be required for systems with an e.i.r.p. of less than 500 mW; (v) in the band 5 725-5 875 MHz, the minimum 6 dB bandwidth of the devices shall be at least 500 kHz and with transmitting antennas of antenna gain 6 dBi and less, the maximum conducted output power over the frequency band of operation shall not exceed 30 dBm (1 W). In addition, the maximum power spectral density shall not exceed 30 dBm in any 500 kHz band. If the transmitting antennas of directional gain greater than 6 dBi are used, both the maximum conducted output power and the maximum power spectral density shall be reduced by the amount in dB that the directional gain of the antenna exceeds 6 dBi; (vi) Fixed point-to-point access points operating in the 5 725-5 875 MHz band may employ antennas with directional gain up to 23 dBi and use the maximum conducted output power and maximum power spectral density as indicated at sub-paragraph (iv) above. With access point devices directional antenna gain higher than of 23 dBi, maximum conducted output power and maximum power spectral density shall be reduced by the amount in dB that the antenna gain exceeds 23 dBi. Point-to-multipoint systems, omni directional applications, and multiple collocated transmitters transmitting the same information shall not be considered as point-to-point systems for the purpose of these rules. 4. Out of band emission Limits.— For transmitters operating in the frequency bands 5 150-5 250 MHz, 5 250-5 350 MHz and 5 470-5 725 MHz, all emissions outside of the bands shall not exceed an e.i.r.p. of −27 dBm/MHz and for transmitters operating in 5 725-5 875 MHz, all emissions within the frequency range from the band edge to 10 MHz above or below the band edge shall not exceed an e.i.r.p. of -17 dBm/MHz; for frequencies 10 MHz or greater above or below the band edge, emission shall not exceed an e.i.r.p. of -27 dBm/MHz. 5. Requirement for operators.— Before deploying an aggregate total of more than one thousand outdoor access points in the 5 150-5 250 MHz band, operators shall submit a undertaking to WPC Wing acknowledging that, in case of occurrence of harmful interference to licensed services in this band, they will take corrective action, which may include reducing power, turning off devices, changing frequency bands, and further reducing power radiated in the vertical direction. 6. Interference.— (1) The effect of unwanted energy due to one or a combination of emissions, radiations or induction upon reception in a radio communication system, manifested by any performance degradation, misinterpretation, or loss of information which could be extracted in the absence of such unwanted energy, where any person whom a license has been issued under the provisions of section 4 of the Act; and section 4 of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 informs the Authority that his licensed system is getting harmful interference from any other radio communication system exempted under these rules, then such authority shall call upon the user of such unlicensed wireless equipment to take necessary steps to avoid interference by relocating the equipment, reducing the power and using special type of antennae, failing which such Authority shall recommend discontinuation of such wireless use. (2) The Authority shall give a reasonable opportunity to the user of wireless equipment before making recommendation of discontinuation of wireless use under sub-rule (1) above. 7. Equipment.— (1) The wireless equipment shall be type approved and designed and constructed in such a manner that the bandwidth of emission and other parameters shall conform to the limits specified in rule 3 and 4 and the application for obtaining equipment type approval shall be made to the Central Government in the format given in Annexure. (2) The safety related requirements shall be as per the International or National standards such as ITU/ETSI/ ANSI/BIS/ICNIRP for the respective devices and frequency bands. [No. R-11014/03/2018-NT] ANNEXURE APPLICATION FOR EQUIPMENT TYPE APPROVAL [Refer sub-rule (1) of rule 7] Section-A- Applicant 1. Name of manufacturing agency applying : for equipment type approval 2. Postal Address of manufacturing Agency : 3. Name and address of Indian agency applying for the type approval. 4. Name of product and the product Identification (model number etc.,) : Section- B- Details of Transmitter 1. Frequency range : 2. No. of preset switchable channels : 3. No. of voice /Data/ TV Channels : (In case of multi- channel equipment) (In case of Duplex/multi-channel equipment) 5. Adjacent channel separation : (In case of multi-channel equipment) 6. Frequency stability : 7. Spurious/ Harmonic radiations : i. Carrier suppression : (In case of carrier suppressed systems) ii. Unwanted side band suppression : (In case of SSB systems) iii. 2nd Harmonic radiations : iv. 3 rd Harmonic radiations : 8. Max. Frequency Deviation : 9. Mode of emission : 10. Bandwidth of emission : 11. Test Tone deviation : 12. Base band frequency : (In case of multi-channel equipment) 13. Type of modulation to be required : 14. Pre-emphasis : 15. Power output : (At the input of antenna) 16. Any other information : Section-C- Details of Receivers 1. Frequency range : 2. Mode of reception : 3. Spurious response of receiver : 4. Sensitivity : 5. Frequency stability : 6. (a) Effective noise temperature : (b) Threshold input level : 7. Intermediate frequency : 8. De-emphasis : 9. Selectivity : 10. Any other particulars : Signature of the applicant Place : Date : and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054. MANOJ KUMAR VERMA