Fresh move to end spectrum stalemate with Defence

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In a bid to end the stalemate on 3G spectrum vacation by the armed forces, the Communications Minister, A. Raja, will meet the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, and the Defence Minister, AK Antony, on Wednesday.

Sam Pitroda, who was appointed to resolve the issues between the Department of Telecom and the Defence forces, will also be present in the meeting.

This is the second round of meeting between the four Government functionaries. The first meeting took place on Monday when Pitroda presented a paper on resolving the dispute between the Department of Telecom and the armed forces on spectrum vacation.

According to top functionaries in the Ministry of Communications, the proposals made by Pitroda were not accepted by the Defence and, therefore, a second round of meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday.

"Pitroda was requested by Raja to find a resolution to the spectrum issue. While the suggestions given by Pitroda were accepted by Raja and the Finance Minister, the Defence Ministry did not agree. Pitroda will present revised proposals on Wednesday," said a top Government functionary.

The DoT and the Defence forces have been at loggerheads over the quantum of spectrum to be released for 3G auction.

One of the things that the DoT is trying to do is to get the Defence forces to give up spectrum to accommodate at least four players in all circles.

Currently, Delhi and Gujarat have only two slots available for auctions. Rajasthan and North East have no 3G spectrum at all.

"The Communications Ministry has been saying that there is enough 3G spectrum for more than five players in a circle.

The DoT has never hid any available spectrum. It is the Defence which has refused to vacate it," said the Government functionary. However, the Defence wants this to be linked to the proposed optic fibre link for all the three wings of the forces costing about Rs 10,000 crore.

The Defence forces' grouse is that although the cable link was promised a year ago, the DoT has not moved on taking the Cabinet's approval for the finances required to build the network.

The Defence is also peeved at the DoT for giving spectrum to BSNL and MTNL outside the bands that were agreed upon by the two sides earlier.

Taken from Business Line