India's telecoms industry has won what is described as a "critical battle" by persuading the country's military to release around 45MHz of radio spectrum for mobile use, reports Business Standard, a local newspaper. Around 25MHz of the spectrum will be released for 3G (ahead of India's 3G license auctions expected later this year), while the remainder will be allocated to existing 2G services. According to a deal between India's Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the military will immediately release 10MHz of 3G spectrum and 5MHz of 2G spectrum. The rest will be released according to timelines agreed by the two ministries, which are contingent on India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) providing a optic fibre cable (OFC) network for use by the defence services.
The report notes that the new spectrum is vital for future growth of the country's mobile sector, which is struggling with network congestion as the market continues to grow at a rapid rate. In a paper to the Defence Ministry last year, the DoT had argued that insufficient spectrum had been a key reason behind the delay in the introduction of 3G services. Meanwhile, the armed forces appear to have been willing to release the spectrum in return for a dedicated and exclusive OFC network.
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