The turf war between the Telecom and Defence Ministries over ownership of spectrum has intensified with the latter rejecting a proposal to take the matter to an empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM).
The Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, has told the Communications & IT Minister, Mr Kapil Sabil, that the defence forces will not vacate any more spectrum, following the Department of Telecom reneging on its past commitments under an MoU signed in May 2009. That agreement specifically provided for DoT exclusively earmarking spectrum for the armed forces and commissioning an optical fibre cable network at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore through Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Also, the Finance Ministry was to waive the spectrum fee of around Rs 10,000 crore payable by the Defence Ministry
In view of this bitter experience, there is no point in getting the eGoM involved all over again, the Defence Ministry has argued. Any further vacating of spectrum by the defence forces would hinge upon DoT delivering on its commitments under the MoU, Mr Antony has said.
In May, Mr Sibal had proposed to take the issue to eGoM on grounds that the two Ministries could not arrive at a settlement on how to distribute spectrum among various users.
In response, Mr Antony, in a letter to the Telecom Minister dated June 25, 2011, said, “The MoU itself was a product of the deliberations of the eGoM. Unless the outstanding issues are resolved and concerns of the Defence Services adequately addressed through concrete actions, I am afraid another eGoM will not serve the purpose.”
The agreement between the DoT and the Defence Ministry was to ensure that the defence forces vacated spectrum for 3G auction. Under the MoU, the Defence Ministry had agreed to vacate 25 MHz spectrum in the 3G spectrum and 20 MHz in the 2G band in phases.
While the Defence Ministry claims it has kept its part of the bargain, the promises made by DoT are still on paper. BSNL is yet to award the contract for laying the cable network and the Finance Ministry, too, has not notified waiver of spectrum charges. There is also a difference between DoT and the MoD on the exact frequency to be earmarked exclusively for the defence forces. “MoD had agreed to the release of the spectrum in good faith in order to avoid any embarrassment to the Government due to its failure in adhere to the commitments made in the notice for public auction of spectrum,” Mr Antony said.
Operators await fresh allocation
In the meantime, DoT has moved a note to the eGoM for getting the Defence forces to vacate more spectrum. The DoT has sought 230 Mhz for mobile services, a major portion of which is for future 2G mobile services. Therefore, the dispute between the two Ministries has a huge ramification for telecom operators who are awaiting allocation of fresh spectrum. DoT has received more than 200 applications for 2G spectrum which will not be possible until the defence forces agree to vacate it.