DoT for Telecom Commission's suggestions on cordless services

The defence ministry has conveyed its inability to vacate any more spectrum for commercial usage

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought the Telecom Commission's opinion on allocating spectrum for residential and enterprise intra-telecommunication or cordless telecommunications system (CTS) requirements.

The move comes in the wake of the defence ministry conveying its inability to vacate any more spectrum for commercial usage.

Earlier, a DoT committee had rejected the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to de-license 20 MHz spectrum in the 1,880-1,900 MHz band for cordless communication services.

It also suggested that Trai reconsider its recommendations.

The committee said CTS be confined to indoor usage with no inter-building operations being permitted.

The committee pointed out the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) could develop national standards to ensure usage is restricted to indoor applications within 10 MHz as a possible alternative.

TEC may also set the standards after field trial with defence experts monitoring the same, the committee said.

In response to the defence authorities' concerns, the DoT committee suggested that a maximum of 10 MHz can be taken up for de-licensing. Currently, 300 units in the 1,700-2,000 MHz band are divided equally between DoT and the armed forces.

Trai had recommended in October 2012 that spectrum in the 1,880-1,900 MHz band be de-licensed for non-commercial operation of low-power cordless systems. It had also advocated inter-building operation of cordless systems within the same premise for private use.

In a communication to DoT early this year, the defence ministry ruled out any further negotiation for spectrum, saying the forces were already finding it tough to accommodate their existing systems within their share of airwaves.

The defence band has 150 MHz of spectrum in 1,700-2,000 MHz, 20 MHz in 2,300-2,400 MHz and 15 MHz in 698-806 MHz band. The defence ministry has projected it would require more airwaves within the 1,920-1,980 MHz band or 2,110-2,170 MHz band for 3G services, 2,300-2,400 MHz band for broadband wireless access services and 698-806 MHz band for long-term evolution services.

Early this year, Sam Pitroda, advisor to Prime Minister on public infrastructure, information and innovations, had said the government should initiate measures to get the defence, space and broadcasting agencies to vacate 100 MHz of airwaves for various mobile services. Pitroda had urged the PM to constitute an Empowered Group of Ministers to work out the modalities. Defence had earlier released 20 MHz of 2G spectrum and 25 MHz of 3G spectrum.