DoT to seek Cabinet nod for Rs 10,000-cr defence proj

The Department of Telecom (DoT) will approach Cabinet shortly seeking allocation of Rs 10,000 crore to prepare an optical fibre cable (OFC) network for defence forces in the next three years in lieu of release of spectrum for mobile services.

A senior DoT official said efforts are on to seek the Cabinet approval for Rs 10,000 crore allocation as soon as possible to prepare the OFC.

In a meeting, chaired by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandra Sekhar, yesterday, the progress on optical fibre project was discussed and DoT was asked to seek Cabinet approval as soon as possible to get it going. National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda was also present in the meeting.

DoT and the Defence Ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the latter was supposed to release 45 MHz of 3G spectrum. Of this, the Defence released 10 Mhz of spectrum last month.

The MoU follows at least two years of negotiations. It entails vacation of spectrum by the defence forces once DoT builds an alternative optical fibre cable (OFC) network for them.

DoT has asked BSNL and MTNL to build OFC, the cost of which will be reimbursed by the department.