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— Ramesh Sharma

3G services: The Minister for IT and Communications, Mr A. Raja, with the Chairman, PTC India Foundation, Mr S.D. Saxena, at the 14th annual conference on ’Emerging trends in wireless technologies and services’, in the Capital on Friday.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, March 14 The dispute between various players on allocating spectrum for mobile services may have delayed the roll out by the new operators but the Communications Ministry is confident of resolving all issues before the term of the current UPA Government ends in 2009.

“We will give out spectrum, including for 3G mobile services, soon. I am sure the services will start during the UPA regime,” said the Communication and IT Minister, Mr A. Raja.

There are at least five new operators awaiting release of spectrum for launching their service. That apart, the existing mobile operators are also in line for additional spectrum in areas where they have met the subscribers based allocation criteria.

However, the Communication Ministry does not have enough radio waves to accommodate everyone. The first challenge, therefore, for Mr Raja is to get the defence forces to vacate more radio waves. Defence forces have nearly 60 Mhz spectrum which can be used by mobile operators. But they have refused to vacate it until an alternate medium of communication is laid out for them at a cost of nearly Rs 5,000 crore.

A Group of Ministers has been set up by the Government to expedite the process. The bigger problem for the Communication Ministry would be to find the right method of allocating the spectrum. While it has taken a decision to give spectrum to those companies which have paid the entry fee first, operators who had applied in 2006 have contested this process. For instance, Idea Cellular, which had sought new licences in 2006, wants the Government to allocate spectrum based on the date of application. On the other hand, companies such as Tata Teleservices and Videocon, which had made the payments first, will not agree to a change in policy. There are also others who are way back in the queue and are pushing for an auction.

Allocating spectrum for third generation mobile services would be relatively easier since the Government has already announced its decision to auction it. Spectrum for 3G services is also not being currently used by any one else and is available for commercial mobile services.

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Raja confident of resolving spectrum crisis soon

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