DoT to give exclusive band to defence forces

The department of telecommunications has decided to give a large chunk of spectrum from 1920-1980 MHz band to the defence forces, which mainly constitutes 3G spectrum. This means the telecom operators who want to expand their 3G services on a pan-India basis won't be able to get any additional 3G spectrum in the future. The government had auctioned three blocks of 3G spectrum in 2010, which had fetched about Rs 67,700 crore. But, no operator was able to bag pan-India 3G spectrum because of high prices. Under the agreement between the telecom and defence ministries, DoT had to specify an exclusive defence band for the defence forces.