The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the 3G spectrum swap between the department of telecommunications (DoT) and the defence ministry.
As part of this, now DoT will get 15 MHz of spectrum in the 3G band of 2100 MHz by giving an equal amount of spectrum to the defence in the 1900 MHz band, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
However, the news doesn’t bring any cheer to mobile operators as this 15 MHz spectrum will not be put up for auction next month. Prasad did not give an exact time-frame as to when it will be offered but said that “it would take time”.
As a result, in the February auctions along with 800, 900, and 1800 bands, only 5 MHz spectrum in the 2100 MHz band would be available for auctions, which would lead to inflated bids.
Of the 49 bands of spectrum or radiowaves between 3 MHz to 40 GHz band, nine have been identified for exclusive use by the defence. In 31 other bands different users like telecom firms, broadcasters, civil aviation and space would co-exist.
“For the remaining 9 slots, a working group has been constituted to sort out the issues and figure out what has to be done. Today we have achieved what we could not in the past 8 years,” Prasad said.
Additionally, a ‘Defence Interest Zone’ has been marked till 50 km into the Indian side from international borders, wherein spectrum will be used for telecom operations in times of peace, with defence ministry kept in the loop. Any defence operation during such times will need approval of the government, according to the minister.
Telecom secretary Rakesh Garg said, “Within one year, ministries will have to harmonise spectrum, identify timeline by when will they be able to vacate spectrum not marked from them. In 4-5 years, everyone will have to free spectrum not marked for them.” With PTI
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