Article Posted on : - Jun 08, 2009

Ministry of Defence building at Delhi. A file photo.

NEW DELHI (BNS): Indian Defence ministry and Department of telecommunications have signed a MoU to get free radio spectrum for defence.

The wide use of frequencies in military operations has led to the demand for spectrum increasing exponentially.

“We have signed the MoU on May 22. The defence forces are expected to vacate the spectrum within the next three years in a phased manner as prescribed in the MoU,” Mint newspaper quoted a senior DoT official as saying.

“The defence forces have more than 40% of the spectrum that has been mandated for commercial mobile usage,” another official in the wireless planning and coordination division of DoT told, the newspaper.

According to the MoU, the defence forces will vacate 15MHz of spectrum within a few days. Of this, 10MHz will be used for 3G services and will be auctioned while 5MHz will be used for 2G services. Once the OFC is up and running, the defence forces would have vacated around 45MHz of spectrum, of which 25MHz is 3G spectrum.