TRAI to reassess 3G spectrum issue

TRAI has been asked by the government to give fresh recommendations on requirement and pricing of spectrum for the next generation (3G) mobile services.
"We have requested TRAI to look into the spectrum for 3G services... besides Department of Telecom (DoT) has already taken up the matter with Ministry of Defence and we hope to get 45 Mhz of frequency from defence services by the year end," Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, told reporters.
The spectrum the Defence is expected to release is in the IMT 2000 band and 1800-1900 Mhz band which is the band used for providing high bandwidth 3G services.
A coordination committee has been set up with members from both the ministries to get the spectrum, he said adding a project worth Rs 1000 crore has already been launched for this purpose.
On the functioning of the Group of Ministers (GoM) under Defence Minister Pranab Mukharjee, the minister clarified that the GoM was formed "only for the purpose of vacating spectrum from defence services and how to fund it."
"GoM was not for framing the spectrum policy," Maran said.