Defence forces to get pan-India BWA network

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NEW DELHI: India’s defence forces will soon have a pan-India wireless broadband network. This was decided in a meeting on July 20 between the telecom and defence ministries, officials with direct knowledge of the development told ET

The telecom ministry has accepted the armed forces demand that one slot of pan-India wireless broadband airwaves be reserved for it.

In the recently concluded auctions, Reliance Industries (RIL), which bought out Infotel , was the only player that bagged pan-India wireless broadband airwaves. The telecom department has also said that the armed forces can take a call whether to use WiMAX or the upcoming LTE technology for their pan-India wireless broadband network.

The July 20 meet was attended by five representatives from the armed forces, including Lt General P Mohapatra, SO-in-C and Lt Col V K Jain, officiating director, both from Army Headquarters, and the team of wireless advisers from the telecom department led by Dr Ashok Chandra.

As against the telecom department’s (DoT) plans to award 10 MHz of wireless broadband frequencies , the defence has sought that this be doubled in line with what is being handed out to the winners of the recently concluded auctions. The telecom department is in the process of awarding 20 MHz of BWA spectrum to the two winners in each circle.

DoT sources said that the armed forces demands for 10 MHz of additional broadband spectrum will be considered during the next round of meeting between both parties.

In another related development, during the same meet, the telecom ministry had also sought that the armed forces vacate up to 65 MHz of 2G spectrum so that the government can meet its obligations by providing the minimum amount of airwaves to all existing telcos as specified in their licenses.

This comes as the future expansion prospects of new entrants and other mid-sized mobile operators are on a sticky wicket as a Department of Telecom (DoT) study has for the first time confirmed that India has virtually exhausted its stock of 2G airwaves, the frequencies on which all mobile services are delivered today.

The DoT requires as much as 85 MHz of 2G airwaves to ensure that all ‘existing’ operators get the minimum amount of airwaves promised in their licence. ET has learnt that the defence services have told the DoT that they were open to releasing about 55 MHz of 2G airwaves.

This will happen in a phased manner and will be linked to the completion of the alternate network that the DoT is building for the defence forces. The armed forces have also told the DoT that they would take a call on vacating an additional 10 MHz of 2G spectrum (so that the total amount they release totals 65 MHz ) after studying the matter internally.