DoT pulled up on spectrum allocation

The department failed to anticipate demand, says panel.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has slammed the department of telecommunications (DoT) for its haphazard planning and spectrum allocation policy, and for its failure to anticipate the demand.

The lack of planning on part of the department had led to an ad-hoc and injudicious allocation of spectrum, which in turn had caused "non-availability of this scarce resource to telecom operators when they needed it the most for faster expansion", the committee said in its report.

Reserving severe criticism for the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) of the DoT, the committee said it was "deeply concerned by the defence ministry's complaint that the WPC took between two and three years to give clearances for spectrum".

To avoid adverse implication on security, the DoT must ensure timely release of spectrum to the defence forces. "While the responsibility of defending the nation is bestowed upon the defence forces, any delay in assigning the spectrum to them will certainly have numerous adverse implications," the report said.

It also hauled up the DoT on the lack of progress in its talks with the defence ministry for the vacation of spectrum by the latter. The DoT has maintained that talks were on since February 2005, but even after 10 months, it did not take a final view on the requirement of the defence services and the vacation of spectrum.

Additionally, the committee also said the DoT had failed to act on several spectrum-related recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). It said the DoT must make its decision-making process quicker to keep up with the technological developments and the immediate requirements of the industry.

The report added that the future roadmap for spectrum allocation must be chalked out in a coordinated and phased manner to carter to short- and long-term requirements of both the telecom service providers and the defence sector.

"DoT must, therefore, come out with a new, transparent and comprehensive spectrum policy, dispensing with all earlier loop holes and keeping in mind the requirement of all sectors," the report added.

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Lack of planning has led to ad-hoc and injudicious allocation of spectrum which in turn caused non-availability for telecom operators, the parliamentary committee said

The committee said that in order to avoid adverse implication on security, the DoT must ensure timely release of spectrum to the defence forces

DoT was also hauled up for the lack of progress in its talks with the defence ministry for the vacation of spectrum by the latter

The department has been asked to make its decision-making process quicker to keep up with technological developments and the immediate requirements of the industry