A. Raja, Minister of Communications and IT has sought defence minister A.K. Antony?s intervention to ensure that the armed forces vacate airwaves to enable the government to carry out 3G auctions for CDMA players, according to reports.
The defence forces had recently rejected the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) ?s demand to release third generation (3G) spectrum for CDMA operators, thereby ending the possibility of the government carrying out the auction of these airwaves.
Raja told his counterpart in the defence ministry that the 1,900-MHz band could not be given for defence use as it represents the only growth path for CDMA operators to deploy 3G services. The telecom minister has also raised objections to reserving airwaves for the armed forces in the 1,427-1,500-MHz band, stating that allocation for the defence forces in these frequencies should be considered on a case-to-case basis.
Raja has also asked Antony to ensure that the defence forces keep their commitment on releasing 10 MHz of 2G spectrum, the frequencies on which all mobile services are delivered currently.
