The Cellular Operators Association of India has flagged concerns over the deployment of advanced metering infrastructure using unlicensed spectrum in the 865-868 MHz frequency band. The association, which represents major telecom operators, said that such deployment not only poses risk to the security of data but is also causing revenue loss to the government.
The comments from COAI come as the power ministry and the spectrum wing of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) have permitted the advanced metering infrastructure service providers to use the RF Mesh technologies in both licensed and unlicensed frequency for deploying smart meter systems infrastructure in the country.
Smart meters are part of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution that measures and records consumers’ electricity usage at different times of the day and sends this information to the energy supplier. The technology through which such information is transferred is called RF or radio frequency mesh technology which is an over-the-air communication technology and works like Wifi.
“As this infrastructure will rely on unlicensed spectrum and equipment with limited or no security, external persons or agencies may get central access to the control centre as well as databases required for operation of the smart grid via security infringement. They can severely disrupt the operations of public utility infrastructure with the intent to harm,” COAI said in a letter to telecom secretary K Rajaraman on March 10.
“RF Mesh networks in unlicensed spectrum have limited security built for data and signalling in contrast with the equipment deployed by licensed TSPs (telecom service providers). On the contrary, all devices and equipment provided by licensed TSPs have to be approved as part of trusted devices,” COAI said, urging DoT to recommend the power ministry to use the licensed spectrum bands and the infrastructure created under the telecom licence for such smart metering solutions.
The association also pressed for the need to ensure level-playing field among all stakeholders with regard to deploying such infrastructure using telecom technology.
The telecom operators acquire spectrum and pay a share of revenue as spectrum usage charges, licence fee etc, to the government, while the users of unlicensed spectrum bands do not have to pay such charges to the government, COAI said, adding that this causes revenue loss to the government.
Another argument put forward by the telcos is that deploying large-scale AMI solution with unlicensed spectrum can disrupt operations of public infrastructure.
“They can severely disrupt the operations of public utility infrastructure with an intent to harm. On the other hand, as this system will not have stringent compliance or monitoring requirements, human errors or internal incidents can also result in such failure along with major accountability issues,” COAI said.
Among other key things, COAI also flagged the issue of quality of services as use of low quality equipments under the unlicensed spectrum for AMI may interfere with the licensed spectrum, thereby leading to service quality issues.
“This can cause performance degradation in the unlicensed band, leading to impact on the QoS, thereby leading to potential disruption of critical public infrastructure,” COAI said in the letter.
“In case any significant security breach happens in a nationwide smart grid, along with disruption in essential administrative and utility services, it can also cause massive loss in revenues of the Government at State/UT as well as Central levels,” it added.
Lately, the power ministry has been working on increasing the adoption of smart metering solutions in the country to enhance consumer convenience and rationalise electricity consumption.