DoT smells trouble after defence demands 70 Mhz more spectrum

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has warned that the defence ministry’s demand for 70 Mhz additional spectrum will create a serious shortage of airwaves for telecom companies.

This is in response to Defence Minister A K Antony’s letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that DoT and the finance ministry had not kept their word on vacation of additional spectrum for use by the defence forces.

DoT said the defence services had raised their demand and were now asking for 150 MHz spectrum in the 1,700-2,000 Mhz band. Earlier, it was agreed that while defence would keep 150 Mhz spectrum along the country’s international borders, it would get only 80 Mhz in other areas.

DoT said the demand, if accepted, would cause the government a huge loss, by reducing the amount of spectrum available for sale by a big margin. The government had last year earned over Rs 100,000 crore from sale of 3G and broadband wireless access spectrum.

DoT said telecom companies needed additional spectrum in the 1,700-2,000 Mhz band. For instance, existing 2G operators need about 20 Mhz. Under licence conditions, telecom companies are guaranteed a start-up spectrum of 4.4 Mhz, which can go up to 6.2 Mhz. Many new operators will require this additional spectrum as they add subscribers.

Also, about 15 Mhz would be for 3G services, said DoT. As many as four companies have already been given five MHz each for 3G services. DoT said another 20 Mhz was needed for new services such as 4G.

DoT said in lieu of spectrum in the 1,700-2,000 MHz band, the air force had been provided an optical fibre network. The army and the navy would be provided similar networks, it said. So, there was no reason for defence to keep more than 25 Mhz spectrum in the 1,700-2,000 Mhz band, it said.

The DoT response comes on the heels of Antony’s letter to Mukherjee hinting that the defence forces may not be able to vacate more spectrum for 2G (5 Mhz) and 3G (10 Mhz) if the promises made to them are not met.

The promises were included setting up an exclusive defence band and the defence interest zone. DoT would also commission an optic fibre cable network for the military, to be built by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, at a cost of Rs 10,000. The finance ministry would waive the spectrum fee of around Rs 10,000 crore.