Hertz Per Customer Explains Call Drops

There is no single reason call drop rates in the India mobile market are so troublesome. But lack of spectrum surely is a major contributor.

A lack of tower sites is universally recognized as part of the problem. There simply are not enough tower sites, to allow for more spectrum reuse. Also, an order of magnitude reduction in transmit power, ordered in 2012 by the government, also is an issue.

When you cut transmit power, you decrease coverage (range, or the distance signals will travel). Signal attenuation (signal loss or weakening) is non-linear, so the coverage reduction is not literally an order of magnitude (10 times less).

But it is a reasonable enough way to describe the change.

Relative bandwidth shortages are among the reasons the problem exists.

Total mobile spectrum in the United States is 608 MHz, for example. In France, 555 MHz is available. In Germany 615 MHz is available; in Italy 540 MHz; in Japan 500 MHz; in Spain 540 MHz. In India 220 MHz is available for mobile communications.

In the United States, that works out to 2.1 Hertz per subscriber; in France 9.3 Hertz per subscriber; in Spain 11.8 Hertz per subscriber. In Germany, 6.2 Hertz per subscriber is available.

In India, just 0.2 Hertz per subscriber is available. In other words, compared to many other markets, India has an order of magnitude to two orders of magnitude less usable bandwidth.