The Cabinet Secretary has decided to refer the ongoing rift between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Ministry of Defence, on the issue of spectrum vacation, to an empowered group of ministers (e-GoM), according to news reports.
The decision follows the Ministry of Defence (MoD) stating that it will stop spectrum vacation because the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has not fulfilled its commitments under an agreement signed in 2009.
The agreement between the DoT and the defence ministry was done to ensure that the defence forces vacated spectrum for 3G auction. Under the MoU, the defence ministry had agreed to vacate 25 MHz spectrum in the 3G spectrum and 20 MHz in the 2G band in phases.
In return, the DoT had committed to set up an exclusive defence band and defence interest zone for the armed forces. DoT was to also commission an optical fibre cable (OFC) network to be built by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, for the defence services.
Also, the finance ministry was to waive the spectrum fee of around Rs 10000 billion payable by the defence ministry.
While work on the OFC has started, other promises made to the defence ministry have not been kept. The Defence Ministry had written to the finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, that although the defence had kept its part of the deal, the DoT has not adhered to even one of the promises made.
It is believed that the matter will not be placed before the empowered group of ministers headed by the finance minister.
