Govt to identify Defence Band in 45 days: Prasad

Government will identify spectrum for the Defence Band in 45 days and the swapping of radiowaves with the forces for commercial use will happen after that, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

The band will provide exclusive right to spectrum for defence services and help free up radiowaves for commercial 3G mobile services.

"The Defence Band issue was lingering for the past 7-8 years and we have been able to arrive at a consensus. The band will be identified in 45 days and thereafter we can take the issue of spectrum swapping forward," Prasad said.

Although the ministries of telecom and defence have a consensus on the issue of spectrum swap, the details are yet to be decided.

As per sources, the discussions have been taking place around the defence freeing up 15 Mhz of spectrum in the 2100 Mhz band, being used for providing 3G services, in lieu of 1900 Mhz.

The auction of 3G spectrum, that will be available after the swap could take place by next year.

The government, they said, is expecting to garner Rs 75,000 crore to 1 lakh crore through the upcoming auction in February. Auction for radiowaves in 800, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands is scheduled to take place in February.

The Cabinet has finalised the base price for 800, 900 and 1800 MHz bands.

Sources said that as for the 2100 MHz band, the Telecom Commission today decided to send back Trai's recommendations for further clarifications.

After getting the reply of Trai, TC will finalise the price for 2100 MHz band, which will than be placed before Cabinet for final approval. DoT plans to auction all the four bands simultaneously next month.

The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved a reserve price of "Rs 3,646 crore pan-India per MHz in 800 MHz, Rs 3980 crore for 900 MHz band pan India excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and J&K; Rs 2191 crore pan India (excluding Maharashtra and West Bengal) in 1800 MHz band".