The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has rejected a proposal from the Department of Telecom to vacate spectrum in the 700 Mhz band on grounds that the frequency is needed for Doordarshan's terrestrial broadcasting services and for mobile TV.

DoT had sent a letter to I&B Ministry to check the feasibility of shifting Doorsdarshan to some other band so that 700 Mhz can be auctioned to telecom operators for broadband services.

In response, the Secretary I&B has told DoT that Doordarshan has initiated digitisation of its terrestrial networks given that the Government has set a sunset date for complete digitisation of the cable TV networks in the country by 2015. As part of this plan, DD has planned to set up 630 digital transmitters.

The 700 Mhz band ranges from 698 Mhz to 806 Mhz and has been identified by the International Telecommunication Union for telecom services. In India, Doordarshan has been given a 40 Mhz bandwidth between 745 Mhz and 795 Mhz for digital terrestrial transmission in four metro cities. The balance is currently free but the Ministry of I&B wants 96 Mhz in this frequency band reserved for Mobile TV services.

“The Ministry is currently firming up the policy framework for enabling private players to provide Mobile TV services using terrestrial mode of transmission. It may be appreciated that in order to start Mobile TV services, at least 96 Mhz of frequency spectrum would be required. Hence apart from DD's requirement another 96 Mhz spectrum is needed,” the letter from Secretary, Ministry of I&B said.

The Ministry has also said that spectrum will be required if terrestrial television broadcasting is thrown open to private players in line with the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The I&B Ministry's stance comes as a dampner to telecom operators who have been waiting for additional spectrum for high speed broadband services. Although the Government has recently auctioned 15 Mhz spectrum for 3G and another 40 Mhz for broadband services, more is needed to meet future demand.

But the problem is that most of the spectrum that is suitable for telecom services has been given to various Government agencies including the defence forces, space and I&B Ministry. DoT was planning to auction spectrum in 700 Mhz band by next year but now it may have to either find an alternate frequency band or convince I&B Ministry to push DD to some other frequency.

> tkt@thehindu.co.in

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