To resolve the 3G spectrum allocation issues, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is scheduled to meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to resolve the long standing demand of telecom operators towards auction. “I have meeting in connection with your work of connectivity on defence bands,” Prasad said at Convergence India 2015 while speaking to telecom industry representatives.
The operators have been demanding auctioning of 20 Megahertz of 3G (2100 Mhz band) spectrum in February but government has only assured auction of 5 Mhz of spectrum. All the 3G spectrum, which is proposed to be put up for auction, need to be freed by the Defence Ministry. Defence Ministry has agreed to free 5 Mhz of 3G spectrum as of now and 15 Mhz when the government notifies a dedicated spectrum for defence forces as ‘Defence Band and Defence Interest Zone’.
Prasad has earlier said that he expects the dedicated spectrum band for the defence sector to be notified in February. The Department of Telecom has announced dates for next round of spectrum auction for 800 Mhz (CDMA), 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz bands but is yet to share details of 3G spectrum. Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission have suggested a base price of Rs 3,705 crore per megahertz as 3G spectrum base price for upcoming auction, about 11 per cent higher than what companies paid for the same during the 2010 sale.
It is also 36 per cent higher than regulator TRAI’s recommendation of Rs 2,720 crore per Mhz. The government expects to raise at least Rs 64,840 crore from the auction, excluding 3G. Prasad also emphasized on better connectivity for future. The minister said that to connect rural India with high speed broadband, government is working towards laying about 7 lakh kilometer of optical fibre in 3 years.
“We owe it to Indians to helps us create that enabling environment to get connected,” Prasad added.