Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 20, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 20, 2006 |
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Info-Tech - Telecommunications DoT unveils Rs 1,000-cr optical fibre cable project Our Bureau
Mr Nripendra Misra, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, addressing a Assocham Telecom Conference 2006 along with Mr Anil K. Agarwal (second from left), President, Assocham, and Dr. J.S. Sharma, Secretary, Telecom, in the Capital on Wednesday. — Kamal Narang
New Delhi , April 19 The Department of Telecom has embarked on a Rs 1,000-crore optical fibre cable project to enable the defence forces to vacate spectrum for use by commercial cellular service providers. The project envisages laying an exclusive optical fibre cable network for the armed forces, linking crucial establishments across the country, which will enable it to shift part of its communication from the existing wireless mode to a wire line network. The move will free 45 Mhz of radio frequency for cellular usage. "We have already begun the project involving officials from both the Ministry of Telecom and Defence. This involves providing an alternative medium for the defence forces. We hope to free the spectrum occupied by the armed forces in the next few months," said Mr J.S. Sarma, Chairman, Telecom Commission, at the Telecom Conference 2006 organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. Mr Sarma said BSNL would execute the project and the spectrum released would be allocated to operators for offering the existing mobile services as well as 3G (next generation mobile services) services. On the project's funding, the DoT Secretary declined to give details saying no final decision has been taken in this regard. He also informed that a long-term policy on spectrum would be spelt out after the Group of Minister discusses the issue. Mr Sarma said private operators should aim to roll out services in the rural areas and 30 per cent of the new user base should be from rural areas. "We are aiming to reach a tele-density of 10 per cent in the rural areas by 2008 from 3 per cent at present. "The industry should be adding 6 million new subscribers every month by next year and take the total user base to 450 million by 2010. The growth will come from the rural segment." He said DoT was also looking to create a directory of post-paid mobile users. Mr Nripendra Misra, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, urged the industry to address the issue of deteriorating quality of services and favoured the concept of an ombudsman at the association level to address consumer complaints.
`Army not too keen to vacate radio frequency'
The Army seems to be not too happy vacating the radio frequency. Col Bonny Mathew, Deputy Head, JCES, Ministry of Defence, said it would put the armed forces at a disadvantage if it did not get spectrum to operate its communication links. "It will be like fighting a war with our hands tied. We need more and more spectrum as communication and information become even more strategic in a combat," said Col Mathew, while speaking at the Assocham conference. The Army officer said while other countries have clearly earmarked separate radio frequency for the armed forces and for commercial use, in India there is no such demarcation, which is causing all the problems. "We cannot vacate spectrum because we use equipment that is ideal for wireless communication. I hope authorities like the Wireless Planning and Co-ordination will be sensitive to the requirement of the soldiers who are in charge of the security of the nation," said Col Mathew.
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