DoT discusses release of spectrum from defence

Struggling to get spectrum vacated from defence forces for mobile services, including 3G, the Department of Telecom (DoT) recently did some stock taking on the status of its ambitions.

"All that can be said at this stage is that we are trying our best to have a 3G spectrum policy soon so that operators can start the service by second half of 2007 as stated by the minister," a senior DoT official said.

Last week in a meeting, the Wireless Planning Coordination (WPC) panel apprised the Telecom Commission, the policy making body within DoT, on the status, development and challenges in getting the spectrum vacated from the defence sector.

Earlier, the WPC had apprised telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran on the same issue.

The official said there were differences with the defence sector and there were challenges as well in the entire process.

Delays have also been caused due to the Central Vigilence Commission's queries on BSNL's optical fibre project, pertaining to the award of contract to certain parties. The other major hindrance is that the group of ministers set up for this very purpose is yet to meet even once.

Last year, the DoT embarked on a Rs 1,000-crore optical fibre cable project to enable the defence forces vacate spectrum for use by commercial cellular service providers.

The move will free 45 Mhz of radio frequency for cellular usage.

However, the Ministry of Defence is understood to have informed the DoT that it would require additional time, up to 390 days, to vacate the spectrum . The primary reason for the ministry seeking more time was due to BSNL and MTNL's failure to complete the alternative optic fibre backbone as per requirement.

The defence ministry considers that network built by BSNL and MTNL as not secure.

This will result in an additional cost of Rs 2,700 crore for building secured network as per the defence requirements.

The DoT has not decided who will bear this additional expenditure. The delay means that 3G services will now be launched only in early 2008 instead of the second half of this year.

Sources in the DoT said defence is not too keen to vacate radio frequency. Defence is of the view that while other countries have clearly earmarked separate radio frequency for the armed forces and for commercial use, there is no such demarcation in India, which is causing all the problems.

To release 3G spectrum for mobile players, the defence ministry is supposed to release 45 Mhz of spectrum by the end of this year in the IMT 2000 band and 1800-1900 MHz band.

Most operators had made detailed plans to aggressively gear up for 3G launch. The DoT had recently allowed four major carriers, including Bharti Airtel Ltd, to conduct indoor trials of mobile services based on the 3G spectrum so that they could test equipment.