Over Rs 1-lakh-cr waiver likely to defence forces for spectrum vacation

The defence forces may get a waiver of about Rs 1,18,000 crore as spectrum charges against vacation of spectrum, which will be commercially assigned by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to telecom service providers.

However, the charges for actual spectrum in use works out to be Rs 14,087 crore, while pan-India spectrum charges stand at Rs 1,17,517 crore. Both charges are for spectrum other than in 2G and 3G bands, an internal note from DoT to the finance ministry said.

The defence forces had asked for the waiver of spectrum charges in lieu of vacation of spectrum. The ministry of finance has already waived off spectrum charges for defence in 2G and 3G bands of about Rs 937 crore, for the period from June 2004 to July 2009.

When contacted, a senior official from DoT said finance ministry had asked the department to quantify the exact spectrum usage charges for defence forces. State-run telecom major BSNL, on behalf of DoT, is setting an optical fibre network for the use of defence forces after vacation of spectrum.

DoT has decided to refer the matter of vacation of spectrum, which will be used for future growth of telecom services, to the empowered Group of Ministers (GoM) after differences cropped up between DoT and various other departments, including information and broadcasting, defence and space. The issues regarding defence band and defence interest zone will also be taken up in eGoM, the note said.

DoT is in discussions with various ministries for vacation of spectrum, which could be to the tune of over 100 MHz, to ensure future availability of the spectrum for the telecom industry. Some disagreements of DoT with defence ministry relate to setting up of an optical fibre network (OFC) in lieu of vacation of spectrum by defence services.

The defence ministry has already vacated 15 MHz 3G spectrum, which was auctioned last year. It has also vacated 15 MHz 2G spectrum, which has been allocated to new operators. Under the agreement, the remaining spectrum — 10 MHz spectrum in 3G (for two operators) and 5MHz in 2G — is be vacated only after the OFC network is complete. This was slated for 2012. However, defence ministry has said there have been delays by DoT in laying the OFC network and in notifying the defence band and the defence interest zone.