Assocham wants defence to free spectrum

Commercial use of these airwaves would help the Government in reducing fiscal deficit by 0.4% in FY15

Industry body Assocham, on Monday, said the defence forces should free up 662 MHz of airwaves in various spectrum bands — 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz — for commercial use. This, the industry body believes, would boost the country’s mobile broadband penetration.

In a statement, Assocham said 112 MHz, 135 MHz and 415 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands, respectively, can be freed by the armed forces. Commercial use of these airwaves would help the government in reducing fiscal deficit by 0.4 per cent in FY15, and would provide “an enduring uptick to the national GDP of between 0.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent”.

Earlier, Cellular Operators Association of India had made a similar demand. It has asked the department of telecommunications to persuade the armed forces to consider a swap of 15 MHz in the 2,100 MHz with an equal chunk of airwaves in the 1,900 MHz band. "Large swathes of mainstream commercial spectrum bands with developed ecosystems were currently occupied by defence," Assocham said.