Relief ring

New Delhi, Sept. 5: The defence ministry is ready to sign an agreement with the department of telecom (DoT) over the release of spectrum by the ministry.

The duo hope to wrap up the deal before Friday’s meeting of the group of ministers which will discuss issues relating to the release of spectrum.

According to the draft memorandum of understanding, the DoT will set up a communication network for the ministry.

On its part, the ministry will release around 50Mhz of spectrum by the end of the year.

Officials said the DoT would supply the list of 50 locations that urgently require spectrum to the ministry.

Besides Calcutta, Delhi and Mumbai, the locations are mainly in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.

The ministry is expected to vacate spectrum for these locations by December.

The spectrum is in the 1,800Mhz frequency band which is used by GSM players for 2G services.

Spectrum are radio frequencies that carry voice and data of mobile players. GSM operators operate on 900 and 1,800Mhz band and CDMA operators on 800Mhz band.

However, the DoT is yet to decide on the allocation of spectrum and its pricing.

Both GSM and CDMA operators are demanding first use of the scarce resource. Even within GSM players there are divisions over who should get a priority in allocations.

In its recommendations on 2G spectrum pricing and allocation, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has proposed a committee to prepare guidelines on allocation.

It will have representatives from both the government and industry.

Trai had also proposed an increase in annual charges by 1 per cent and a one-time fee for additional spectrum to operators, a move that may push up mobile phone bills.