If extra spectrum is not available on time, India?s telecom growth story may come to a sudden halt. Pressing the alarm bell, this is exactly what the department of telecommunications has said.
Not just this, the government?s target of having 20 million broadband subscribers on board by the end of 2010 may also be difficult to achieve, the DoT said in an intra-department note.
The note has seemingly grabbed the attention of decision-makers because, by the end of December, extra spectrum Delhi and Mumbai require is estimated as 25 Mhz, but the chances of that happening look remote.
?There is an urgency for vacation of spectrum by the defence forces so as to finalise and announce guidelines for introduction of 3G technology in the country as well as for extra spectrum for existing 2G services,? the report has highlighted.
For GSM cellular services, a maximum of about 37 Mhz is available at present in metros and about 28 Mhz in other areas.
Against this backdrop, the defence forces have agreed to release only 20 Mhz in the 1,800 Mhz band. On this issue, too, last-minute differences between the DoT and defence forces have cropped up.
The DoT note says that long-term extra spectrum requirements for 2010 are estimated at 40 Mhz and for 2012, about 50 Mhz. The world average per GSM service provider is 12 Mhz. In India, an average of less than 10 Mhz per operator is available even though the country offers the lowest tariffs.