The Ministry of Defence has rejected the Department of Telecommunications? request to present the issue pertaining to ownership of spectrum to an empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM).
The Defence Minister, A.K. Antony, has told the Minister of Communications & IT, Kapil Sabil, that the defence forces will not vacate any more spectrum, following DoT?s failure to fulfill its past commitments under an MoU signed in May 2009.
As per the conditions of the agreement, DoT had to earmark spectrum for the armed forces and commission an optic fibre cable network through Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.
Also, the Ministry of Finance was to waive the spectrum fee of around Rs 100 billion payable by the Ministry of Defence.
In May 2011, Sibal had proposed to take the issue to an eGoM on grounds that the two Ministries could not arrive at a settlement on how to distribute spectrum among various users.
In response, Antony, in a letter to Sibal dated June 25, 2011, said, ?The MoU itself was a product of the deliberations of the eGoM. Unless the outstanding issues are resolved and concerns of the Defence Services adequately addressed through concrete actions, another eGoM will not serve the purpose.?
The agreement between DoT and the Ministry of Defence was to ensure that the defence forces vacated spectrum for the 3G auction. Under the MoU, the Ministry of Defence had agreed to vacate 25 MHz spectrum in the 3G spectrum and 20 MHz in the 2G band in phases.
While the Ministry of Defence claims it has kept its part of the bargain, DoT has allegedly failed to fulfill its part. BSNL is yet to award the contract for laying the cable network and the Finance Ministry, too, has not notified waiver of spectrum charges. DoT and the Ministry of Defence also differ on the exact frequency to be earmarked exclusively for the defence forces.
Meanwhile, DoT has sent a note to the eGoM to persuade the Ministry of Defence to vacate more spectrum. DoT has sought 230 Mhz for mobile services, a major portion of which is for future 2G mobile services.
