The demand for a level playing field by the telecom players vis-a-vis captive 5G networks was “absurd and impractical”, the Broadband India Forum (BIF) said.

Mobile telephony and captive 5G networks are two separate services on a completely different footing and do not compete with each other, the BIF said.

“Seeking a level playing field with enterprises for captive private networks is akin to a child in kindergarten being asked to compete with someone who has a doctoral degree,” BIF president, T.V. Ramachandran, said.

The BIF, representing Amazon, TCS, Meta and others, said public 5G had different requirements from private 5G networks as the latter was restricted to a particular geographical area and not connected to public networks and therefore would not need lawful interception, trusted source requirements and other security-related conditions.

The concept of level playing field cannot apply in the case of captive private 5G networks as they have several distinctive traits, which distinguish them from public networks, with whom they are being compared “without any logic or basis”, the BIF said in a statement.