Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Jun 18, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Jun 18, 2004 |
||
|
|
||
|
Info-Tech
-
Telecommunications Government - Security Defence Ministry nod for addl spectrum to mobile players Thomas K. Thomas
New Delhi , June 17 IN a relief to mobile service operators, the Defence Ministry has have agreed to release additional spectrum of up to 15 Mhz for providing cellular services. They have also agreed to meet the projected demand for radio frequency for 26 out of 34 cities except Delhi and a few cities in western sector where only 5 Mhz of radio frequency would be made available for now. The breakthrough comes after a series of meetings between the Defence officials and the task force set up by the Group of Ministers on telecom and IT last year at the time of resolving the controversy over unified licence. Discussions between the Department of Telecommunications and the Defence Ministry over the last few years had failed to resolve the crisis over spectrum. While in international markets the mobile operators get an average of 17 Mhz of radio frequency, Indian operators get around 10 Mhz. Lack of adequate radio frequency is resulting in clogging of network effecting quality of service. The task force has also requested the defence force to expedite its project for laying optic fibre cable network, which would enable it to vacate part of the existing radio communication links. The additional radio frequency would be allocated in the 1800 Mhz according to the status report of the task force prepared on June 1. For Delhi and cities in border areas, the defence service would allocate additional spectrum after trial runs in order to ensure compatibility between cellular and defence operations. Bulk clearance for four southern states has also been agreed by the defence services. On the issue of spectrum pricing, the department of telecom has made a reference to the telecom regulator for suggesting ways to efficiently utilise radio frequency. The Wireless Planning and Coordination Committee, has also asked the Ministry to specify the fund required for modernising their existing equipment to facilitate release of spectrum.
More Stories on : Telecommunications | Security
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2004, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|