Indian telcos have locked horns with hyperscalers over the allocation of microwave spectrum for 5G backhaul services. Such battlefronts have opened in some other countries, but this current spat has a distinctive Indian flavor, notably in the big two telcos, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, arguing between themselves over how spectrum for backhaul should be allocated. The two agree on the principal point that all backhaul spectrum should be given to them, allowing their representative body COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) to speak for them. “The traditional microwave backhaul spectrum bands (lower 6 GHz, 7 GHz, 13 GHz, 15 GHz, 18 GHz, and 21 GHz) should be assigned exclusively to the TSPs [telecommunications service providers] having an Access License,”…