Mumbai: Broadcasters and teleport operators have told the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) that any move to reduce the bandwidth available to C-band communication satellites from 500 MHz to 200 MHz will hurt their business.

The MIB had last week sought information from broadcasters and teleport operators on whether their current and future assignments can be accommodated within 4000-4200 MHz.

The industry opined that reducing the C-band spectrum will have ramifications for the business of the sector as they will need to make investments in additional teleports because the current network will not be sufficient for accommodating existing and additional TV channels in 4000-4200 MHz. The Department of Telecom (DoT) plans to open the 3700-4200 MHz spectrum band for telecom operators to use for providing 5G/6G services.

In their submission to the MIB, the broadcasters and teleport operators have said reducing the bandwidth on C-Band to 200 MHz spectrum (4000-4200 MHz) will lead to a 60 per cent reduction in the capacity for the sector, which translates to 40 transponders. Furthermore, the stakeholders stated that the industry will have to migrate to higher frequencies.