Industry experts and telecom representatives question the practicality of India’s proposed 5G network slicing rules, raising concerns over potential favouritism towards premium users and enforcement challenges as TRAI gradually navigates the complex regulatory landscape.
Telecom industry representatives are questioning whether India’s proposed 5G slicing rules can be enforced in practice, warning that the framework could end up favouring premium customers while leaving ordinary users exposed to slower service. The concern has sharpened as Bharti Airtel pushes ahead with a slicing-based Priority Postpaid plan and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India weighs how far operators should be allowed to go in selling differentiated access over 5G networks. According to reports in The Hindu BusinessLine and The Economic Times, TRAI is taking a cautious approach and has so far stopped short of giving operators a broad green light on how slicing should be regulated.
At the centre of the debate is TRAI’s proposal that a base station should be considered congested once it reaches 80% capacity, measured through physical resource blocks, or PRBs, the basic units used to divide network bandwidth. Industry experts say that definition could be too blunt. Parag Kar, a telecom analyst, told The Hindu BusinessLine that the paper does not explain how PRBs should be allocated between premium and regular users, raising the risk that faster service for one group could come at the expense of another. Failsal Kawoosa, founder of Techarc, told the paper the draft appears internally inconsistent, arguing that if operators can stay within the proposed capacity threshold, there may be little need for premium fast-lane products at all.
The regulator’s scrutiny of Airtel’s Priority Postpaid plans has added to the pressure. Mint reported that TRAI sought details from Airtel on how the offer works and whether it could disadvantage prepaid or non-priority users. Moneycontrol later reported that TRAI’s early assessment did not find an immediate breach of net neutrality rules, but that the regulator was still looking closely at whether setting aside part of the network for selected customers could affect service quality for everyone else. The Economic Times said TRAI is effectively in a wait-and-see mode, monitoring whether slicing can coexist with net neutrality without creating a two-tier internet experience.
Beyond slicing, TRAI’s consultation paper also seeks to improve how operators map coverage, with labels such as “excellent”, “good”, “fair” and “no coverage” intended to give users a clearer picture of service quality. But critics say better maps will not solve the bigger problem unless the regulator sets out a credible enforcement regime. V Sridhar, a professor at IIIT-Bangalore, told The Hindu BusinessLine that the paper does not spell out a grievance redressal mechanism or meaningful penalties for poor service. Kar, meanwhile, argued that the deeper fix lies in expanding capacity and competition through cheaper spectrum, lower taxes, lower licence fees and greater transparency, rather than relying on complicated slicing rules to manage congestion.
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