Defence Ministry will not vacate additional spectrums: A K Antony

The telecom industry is expected to suffer from the dispute between ministry of defence (MOD) and ministry of telecom (MOD) on the ownership of spectrums. In the communication to telecom ministry and Information Technology ministry, the defence ministry has said, the defence forces will not vacate any more spectrums, as the telecom ministry has not met its commitments made under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2009.

The MoU specifically provided for DoT exclusively earmarking spectrum for the armed forces and commissioning an optical fibre cable network at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore through Bharat Sanchar Nigam.  Also, the Finance Ministry was to waive the spectrum fee of around Rs 10,000 crore payable by the defence ministry.

The Defence Minister A K Antony, has also rejected the recommendation of Telecom Ministry to take the issue to an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) and argued that there is no point in getting the EGoM involved all over again, adding further, the defence minister said, any further vacating of spectrum by the defence forces would hinge upon DoT delivering on its commitments under the MoU. Last month, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had suggested taking the matter to EGoM on ground that the both ministries cannot arrive at an agreement on how to distribute spectrum among various users.

In reply to telecom minister’s proposal, defence minister, in a letter dated June 25, 2011, said, “The MoU itself was a product of the deliberations of the EGoM. Unless the outstanding issues are resolved and concerns of the defence services adequately addressed through concrete actions, I am afraid another EGoM will not serve the purpose.”

As per the agreement made between both the ministries was to guarantee that the defence force will vacate spectrum for 3G auction, under the MoU, the defence ministry had agreed to vacant 25 MHz spectrum in the 3G and 20 MHz in the 2G band in phases. Whereas defence force says it has kept its part of bargain, the promises made by the telecom ministry are still on paper. BSNL is yet to award the contract for laying the cable network and the finance ministry, too, has to notify waiver of spectrums.

There is also a difference between both the ministries on the exact frequency to be earmarked exclusively for the defence forces. “MoD had agreed to the release of the spectrum in good faith in order to avoid any embarrassment to the Government due to its failure in adhere to the commitments made in the notice for public auction of spectrum,” Antony said.

Meanwhile, the telecom ministry has moved a note to the EGoM for getting the defence ministry to vacate more spectrums, the telecom ministry has asked for 230 MHz for mobile services, a major portion of which is for future 2G mobile services. Thus, disagreement between these two ministries has a huge implications and importance for telecom sector. The telecom operators are waiting for fresh allocation of 2G spectrum, which is not possible until the defence force agree to vacate additional spectrums.