To resolve spectrum-related issues over which the mobile operators and the department of telecommunications (DoT) are at loggerheads, the latter has now firmed up a proposal of learning how big players in developed nations deploy spectrum and utilise it optimally. The lessons learned would be imparted to the domestic operators.
The telecom engineering centre (TEC), the technical wing of the DoT, has formed a dedicated team of 4-5 officers which would visit the network of dominant operators like Verizon, Cingular, NTT DoComo, Vodafone etc, in countries such as the US, UK, France, Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil and Malaysia. The team would for a specified time period study dense mobile networks deployed in such countries and interact with telecom authorities and dominant operators on one-to-one basis to find out information about technological advancement of spectrum enhancement techniques.
The international relations cell of the DoT would coordinate with the telecom authorities of these countries for the visit preferably on a bilateral basis.
The move assumes significance as DoT and the GSM operators in particular, do not see eye to eye on the issue of efficient utilisation of spectrum. While the department feels that the operators can support much more subscribers than they do currently on the spectrum they have, the operators feel that they are facing crunch and are utilizing spectrum in the most efficient manner.
TEC has also proposed that in view of the complexity and volume of work involved in carrying out studies related to spectrum efficiency and coming out with figures that reflect optimum spectral efficiency, a separate task force be constituted. The dedicated task force would define and evaluate more effective, efficient and beneficial use of spectrum by the telecom sector of India and perform functions related to spectrum needs, strategic plans, review process, technological advancements etc and also benchmarking techniques for assessing and ascertaining optimum utilisation by the operators of allotted spectrum.
