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Core Purpose

The Central Government has enacted the Use of Low Power and Very Low Power Wireless Access System including Radio Local Area Network in Lower 6 GHz band (Exemption from Licensing Requirement) Rules, 2026, to exempt certain wireless equipment from licensing requirements.

Detailed Summary

The Ministry of Communications, through Notification G.S.R.47(E) dated 20th January, 2026, has exercised powers under 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), to establish the "Use of Low Power and Very Low Power Wireless Access System including Radio Local Area Network in Lower 6 GHz band (Exemption from Licensing Requirement) Rules, 2026." These rules, effective upon publication in the Official Gazette, exempt any person from requiring a license or frequency assignment to establish, maintain, work, possess, or deal in wireless equipment for low power indoor and very low power outdoor wireless access systems, including radio local area networks, operating in the frequency band 5925-6425 MHz. This exemption is contingent on operating on a non-interference, non-protection, and shared basis, while complying with specified technical parameters: for low power indoor devices, a maximum power spectral density of 11 dBm/MHz and 30 dBm equivalent isotropic radiated power; for very low power outdoor devices, 1 dBm/MHz and 14 dBm, respectively, both with a maximum emission bandwidth of 320 MHz and out-of-band emissions not exceeding -27 dBm/MHz. Operational restrictions include prohibiting use on oil platforms, indoor use on land vehicles, boats, and aircrafts (except above 10,000 feet), and communication with/control of drones and unmanned aerial systems. All devices must employ a contention-based protocol. The rules also detail out-of-band emission limits and provide a mechanism for addressing harmful interference caused to licensed systems, potentially leading to discontinuation of the exempted wireless use after a hearing opportunity. Equipment must have in-built and integrated antennas, be type approved conforming to these rules, and meet safety requirements aligning with international or national standards like ITU, ETSI, ANSI, BIS, or ICNIRP, with applications for type approval following a prescribed Schedule.

Full Text

REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99 The Gazette of India CG-DL-E-21012026-269488 EXTRAORDINARY PART II—Section 3—Sub-section (i) PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY No. 47] NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2026 MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 20th January, 2026 G.S.R.47(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), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely:— 1. Short title and commencement. — (1) These rules may be called the Use of Low Power and Very Low Power Wireless Access System including Radio Local Area Network in Lower 6 GHz band (Exemption from Licensing Requirement) Rules, 2026. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Application. — These rules shall apply in the frequency band 5925 – 6425 MHz. 3. Definitions. — (1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires, — (a) "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; (b) "Contention-based protocol" means a protocol that allows multiple users to share the same spectrum by defining the events that occurs when two or more transmitters attempt to simultaneously access the same channel which may consist of procedures for initiating new transmissions, procedures for determining the state of the channel (available or unavailable), and procedures for managing retransmissions in the event of a busy channel; (c) "device" means the radiators operating in the frequency band 5925-6425 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; (d) "emission bandwidth" means the 26 dB bandwidth of the modulated signal measured relative to the maximum level of the modulated carrier; (e) "equivalent isotropic radiated power” or “e.i.r.p" means the total power that would be radiated by a hypothetical isotropic antenna to give the same signal strength as the actual source in the direction of the strongest beam of the antenna; (f) "indoor operation" means that the transmitter is located inside premises which are wholly enclosed by walls that are non-transparent to radio waves, except for any doors, windows or passageways and the premises have ceiling or roof that are non-transparent to radio waves; (g) “maximum power spectral density" or "Max. PSD” means the maximum power within the specified measurement bandwidth, within the device operating band; measurements in the 5925-6425 MHz band are made over a bandwidth of 1 MHz; (h) "power spectral density" means 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 which shall not include the time between pulses during which the transmit power is off or below its maximum level. (2) The words and expressions used in these rules and not defined but defined in the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933) shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the said Acts. 4. Exemption. — No licence or frequency assignment shall be required by any person to establish, maintain, work, possess or deal in any wireless equipment for the purpose of low power indoor and very low power outdoor wireless access systems, including radio local area networks operating in the frequency band 5925-6425 MHz on non- interference, non-protection and shared (non-exclusive) basis, and complying with the following technical parameters as specified in the Table below, namely:— Table (Low power indoor and very low power outdoor Wireless Access System or Radio Local Area Network Access Points and devices) +----+---------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+ | S1 | Device type | Maximum power | Maximum equivalent | Maximum | Out of band | | No | | spectral density | isotropic radiated | emission | emissions | | | | equivalent isotropic | power for in band | bandwidth | (Maximum power | | | | radiated power for in- | emissions | | spectral density) | | | | band emissions | | | | +====+=====================+=========================================================+===============================+==========================+==========================+ | (1)| (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | +----+---------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+ | 1. | Low power indoor | 11 dBm/MHz | 30 dBm | 320 MHz | -27 dBm/MHz | +----+---------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+ | 2. | Very low power | 1 dBm/MHz | 14 dBm | 320 MHz | -27 dBm/MHz | | | outdoor | | | | | +----+---------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------+--------------------------+--------------------------+ 5. Operational restrictions. — (1) Frequency band 5925 – 6425 MHz shall be prohibited on oil platforms. (2) Indoor use shall be prohibited on land vehicles (such as cars or trains), boats and aircrafts except when flying above ten thousand feet. (3) Communication with and control of drones and unmanned aerial systems shall be prohibited. (4) Devices operating in the frequency band 5925 – 6425 MHz shall employ a contention-based protocol. 6. Out of band emission limits for transmitters operating within the frequency band 5925 – 6425 MHz. — (1) Any emissions outside the frequency band 5925 – 6425 MHz shall not exceed an equivalent isotropic radiated power of-27 dBm/MHz. (2) Power spectral density shall be suppressed by 20 dB at 1 MHz outside of channel edge, by 28 dB at one channel bandwidth from the channel centre, and by 40 dB at one and one-half times the channel bandwidth away from channel centre. (3) At frequencies between one megahertz outside channel edge and one channel bandwidth from the centre of the channel, the limits referred to in sub-rule (2) shall be linearly interpolated between 20 dB and 28 dB suppression, and at frequencies between one and one and one-half times channel bandwidth, the limits shall be linearly interpolated between 28 dB and 40 dB suppression. (4) Emissions removed from the channel centre by more than one and one-half times the channel bandwidth shall be suppressed by at least 40 dB. (5) The emission measurements shall be performed using a minimum resolution bandwidth of 1 MHz and a lower resolution bandwidth may be employed near the band edge, when necessary, provided the measured energy is integrated to show the total power over 1 MHz. (6) When measuring the emission limits, the nominal carrier frequency shall be adjusted as close to the upper and lower frequency band edges as the design of the equipment permits. 7. Interference.— (1) Where any person to whom a licence have been issued under the provisions of section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) and section 4 of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933), informs the Central Government or any officer authorized by it for this purpose that his licensed system is receiving harmful interference from any other radio communication system exempted under these rules, then such Central Government or any officer authorized by it for this purpose shall call upon the user of such exempted 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 Central Government or any officer authorized by it for this purpose shall recommend discontinuation of such wireless use. (2) The user of wireless equipment shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before any recommendation of discontinuation of wireless use under sub-rule (1) is made. Explanation. - For the purposes of this rule, the expression "interference” means 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 have been extracted in the absence of such unwanted energy. 8. Equipment. — (1) The wireless equipment shall have in-built and integrated antenna and shall be type approved, designed and manufactured so that the bandwidth of emission and other parameters shall conform to the limits specified in rules 4, 5 and 6. (2) The application for obtaining equipment type approval shall be made in the format specified in the Schedule annexed to these rules. (3) The safety related requirements shall be in accordance with the international or national standards such as the International Telecommunication Union or European Telecommunications Standards Institute or the American National Standards Institute or the Bureau of Indian Standards or International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection for the respective devices and frequency bands. SCHEDULE (APPLICATION FOR EQUIPMENT TYPE APPROVAL) [ See rule 8(2)] 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 5. Frequency range 6. Number of preset switchable channels 7. Number of voice or Data or TV Channels (In case of multi- channel equipment) 8. Tx-Rx channel separation (In case of Duplex or multi-channel equipment) 9. Adjacent channel separation (In case of multi-channel equipment) 10. Frequency stability 11. Spurious or Harmonic radiations (a) Carrier suppression (In case of carrier suppressed systems) (b) Unwanted side band suppression (In case of SSB systems) (c) 2nd Harmonic radiations (d) 3rd Harmonic radiations 12. Maximum Frequency Deviation 13. Mode of emission 14. Bandwidth of emission 15. Test Tone deviation 16. Base band frequency (In case of multi-channel equipment) 17. Type of modulation to be required 18. Pre-emphasis 19. Power output (At the input of antenna) 20. Any other information Section-C- Details of Receivers 21. Frequency range 22. Mode of reception 23. Spurious response of receiver 24. Sensitivity 25. Frequency stability 26. (a) Effective noise temperature (b) Threshold input level 27. Intermediate frequency 28. De-emphasis 29. Selectivity 30. Any other particulars Signature of the applicant Place : Date : (Note : Separate application should be submitted for each type of equipment.) [F. No. 24-04/2025-UBB] DEVENDRA KUMAR RAI, Jt. Secy. Uploaded by Dte.of Printing at Government of India Press, Ring Road, Mayapuri, New Delhi-110064 and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054. GORAKHA NATH YADAVA Digitally signed by GORAKHA NATH YADAVA Date: 2026.01.21 16:10:21 +05'30'

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