The Hindu Business Line : Army, Navy refuse to give up radio frequency

New Delhi June 18 The Government's hopes of easing the spectrum crunch for mobile services may hit a bump with the Army and Navy refusing to give up radio frequency without getting an alternative media of communication.

Senior officials in the Department of Telecom admitted that there could be a delay in allocating the spectrum being used by the two divisions of the armed forces, as the alternative media is not yet ready. DoT is now banking on the Air Force, which has agreed to release spectrum by mid-July, when the optic fibre cable project being undertaken by the state-owned BSNL is expected to be completed.

Air Force willing

"There is a delay in getting the spectrum vacated from the Army and Navy. They are not forthcoming in giving up the frequency for commercial use, as they are concerned about an alternative communication medium that can be reliable. However there will not be too much impact on our plan to get additional frequency for mobile services since the Air Force has agreed to vacate the large chunk of spectrum by July," a senior DoT official told Business Line.

DoT officials added that the Air Force would vacate over 40 Mhz of spectrum, which would take care of the immediate demand from mobile operators. Most operators have packed in more subscribers than what can be accommodated in the frequency allocated to them, which has led to higher congestion levels.

"The Army and Navy together have only about 3 Mhz with them and therefore a delay will not have any major impact. The Group of Ministers will be meeting in the next one week, where we hope to resolve all the issues," DoT officials said.

The defence forces had earlier questioned the authority of DoT to make announcements in this regard, when the GoM headed by External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had not even met even once till now. Issues relating to availability of alternative communication media and the funding for relocating the defence network are yet to be worked out.

DoT officials said that the GoM will not only address the defence forces' concerns but also lay out a long-term roadmap for vacation of spectrum and creating user specific frequency bands

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