Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel face a revenue cap on 5G enterprise slicing under TRAI's proposed 80% PRB threshold. Critics say the utilization metric misses user experience.
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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed monitoring 5G network slicing with an 80% threshold on radio resources. Operators that exceed that level on five days in a month must add capacity. Exceed it for 30 days and the cell comes out of slicing.
Network slicing carves a physical network into virtual partitions, each tuned for a specific use. High-speed broadband flows through one slice. Industrial automation gets its own. TRAI wants to ensure premium slices do not leave ordinary users congested, the regulator said.
Enforcement runs on Physical Resource Blocks, the basic radio allocation unit in 4G and 5G cells. The regulator proposes monitoring cells during their busiest hour. No more than 1% of cells should have daily PRB utilization above 80%.
TRAI should regulate the impact of slicing on end users, not a resource utilization percentage, the editorial argued. PRB utilization measures how much radio resource is consumed, not how it is allocated across slices. A cell at 75% could funnel disproportionate capacity to a premium slice. A cell crossing 80% does not prove ordinary subscribers suffered material degradation. The editorial proposed a better test: whether ordinary internet access deteriorates because of slicing.
Global peers have taken a different path. BEREC and UK's Ofcom have accepted differentiated services as long as they do not undermine open internet rules. France's ARCEP follows similar principles. The U.S. FCC proposes monitoring slicing to prevent circumvention of paid-prioritization protections.
For Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, the 80% rule caps enterprise revenue from slicing before the market develops. Vodafone Idea faces the same constraint. That operator has less financial room for capacity upgrades.
Operators had expected 5G slicing to generate new income from industrial automation and smart manufacturing. A rule that triggers mandatory capacity expansion or forces cells out of slicing limits how much of that revenue materializes.
Industry feedback is being accepted during the consultation process. The regulator has not set a date for its final decision.
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