Cost of Telecom spectrum is 10 times more than usual

The cost of getting telecom spectrum from the defence forces has risen upto 10 times significantly from the estimates worked out more than two years ago.The Department Of Telecommunications (DoT) must foot a bill of around Rs14,000 cr to set up an alternate optic fibre communications network for the defence forces, up from the initial estimate of Rs1,200 cr that was subsequently revised to Rs 5,000 crore.

Spectrum is a scarce natural resource essential for providing quality mobile telephony service.The group of ministers (GoM), which was constituted in 2007 for vacation of defence spectrum, is expected to meet this week to find a solution to the long-pending issue. DoT is expecting 30 MHz of 3G spectrum and 20 MHz of 2G spectrum from the defence.The increase in cost for getting the unused spectrum vacated from the defence forces may act as a major roadblock for the entire telecom sector, and introduction of 3G (third generation) services in particular. According to a government announcement, the auction process for starting 3G telecom services in India is likely to begin by the end of this year 2008.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

ya you are right