The spectrum scarcity is likely to ease as the defence forces will release 15 MHz of radio frequency for 2G and 3G mobile services soon after an agreement between the ministries of defence and telecom is signed.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) that met last week has decided “the defence forces would release 10 Mhz of spectrum in 2.1 Ghz band to be used for 3G mobile services for commercial use in coordination with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This spectrum would be released after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and DoT,” sources said.
They said that the defence forces would also release 5 MHz of spectrum for the existing 2G services.
When contacted, DoT officials said there still was some work to be done to reach the MoU-signing stage.
According to the GoM, the estimated investment would be about Rs 8,900 crore to lay dedicated network for Army and Navy so that they could release radio waves for commercial use like mobile services.
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