India to go for global spectrum standard

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran today said the government would follow international norms in the allocation of the 1900 Mhz spectrum to the mobile service providers.

"We are looking into the whole matter. International standards will be followed in allocation of spectrum to the wireless service providers," Maran told reporters.

This move might help the GSM-based (Global System for Mobile) cellular service providers like Bharti, Hutch, Idea and BPL, who had approached the department of telecommunications (DoT) for allocation of frequency in the 1900 Mhz, required to implement 3G mobile services.

The International Telecommunication Union has specified a standard norm, called "IMT-2000 technology family" to deliver third-generation (3G ) services. It identified a "core band" of 1920-1980 Mhz paired with 2110-2170 Mhz for terrestrial 3G services.

The CDMA-based (Code Division Multiple Access) operators are also demanding for allocation of additional frequency in the 1900 Mhz band saying that no vendor manufacturers CDMA network equipment for any other spectrum band except the above two bands.

On the much awaited broadband policy, Maran said the DoT was making small corrections in the policy to make it viable. The ministry would then decide whether the policy would be tabled in Parliament, Maran said.

" There is good chance that the policy will be tabled in the house during the current session," he said.

Maran also said that his ministry had approached the finance ministry for fiscal sops for broadband in line of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendations.

The telecommunications regulator, in its recommendations, had emphasised on reduction in duties for certain inputs and finished products and service tax holiday for internet service providers to push broadband growth in the country.