New Delhi : Vacation of spectrum by the Air Force and immediate release of additional spectrum are the key demands of the telecom industry in the face of increasing spectrum requirements, according to a draft paper on spectrum agreed to by an across-the-industry technical group on spectrum. The Core Group of Industry Associations along with Ficci's telecom group has come out with a charter of demands for allocation, reallocation and use of spectrum, which they plan to submit to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) next week.The two associations, which met in New Delhi on Friday, also deliberated on the frequency requirements in the context of Convergence Bill, the emerging 3G services and the new operators planning to come in the existing services.The group felt that the frequency band 1710-1885 MHz should be fully vacated on priority basis by shifting existing Air Force operations. They also said this band is "too precious" from the view of telecom services and the development of the Indian IT sector.
To this extent, the group had also made a presentation to the defence ministry on March 8. The group proposes that the cost of shifting out of the defence operations can be borne through the license fees collected by the DoT.
The group has also sought immediate release of 20 MHz as agreed under the Group on Telecom (GoT) report for all major cities and a subsequent release of another 20 MHz in the next six months.
Due to the occupation of large tracts of spectrum in the 1700-1900 MHz by the defence forces, often the telecom operators are allocated spectrum in fragments, which in turn leads to sub-optimal frequency utilisation.
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