The information and broadcasting ministry has told telecom department that it plans to utilise the 700 MHz airwaves band for mobile TV services, a move that may thwart the communication ministry's plans to sell these airwaves to private telecom companies for providing wireless broadband services.

       The I&B ministry said that it may require about 96 units of airwaves in the 700 MHz band for mobile TV services in the country. It plans to follow telecom regulator Trai's recommendations and finalise the policy soon for this service.

       Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had earlier recommended that all private and state-owned firms, including telecom firms and broadcasters, be given airwaves in the 700 MHz band through an auction process for launching mobile TV services.

       Globally, some countries have auctioned airwaves specifically for mobile TV services, while others have asked telecom companies to provide this facility using the third or fourth generation spectrum they hold.

      ET reported earlier this week that the telecom department had set a target for Doordarshan and other government agencies to vacate these frequencies by the year-end so that the auctions can be held in 2012. The telecom ministry has asked the I&B ministry to vacate 100 MHz of spectrum in 700 MHz frequency band for wireless broadband services.

        The freeing up of frequencies is being monitored by the telecom department, the cabinet secretariat as well as the Prime Minister's Office, according to a telecom department note seen by ET. The note adds that the 700 MHz band is the 'most efficient and cost effective' frequency for delivering wireless broadband, and rolling out services using this band will cost only a third of the expected rollout costs for companies such as Reliance Industries that won wireless broadband airwaves in the 2.3 GHz band.

        The country has about 108 units of airwaves in the 700 MHz band that can be utilised for commercial services, half of which is used by Doordarshan, while the armed forces have about 36 units or MHz. The remaining 24 MHz is held by other government agencies.

       I&B secretary Raghu Menon, in his communication (dated February 23) to telecom secretary R Chandrashekar has also pointed that the sunset clause date for completion of Doordarshan's digitilisation was 2015, indicating that plans to free up these airwaves by the year-end may not translate into reality. His communication also adds that as per the national frequency allocation plan 2008, the 700 MHz is reserved predominantly for broadcasting services, including mobile TV.

        Mohan also adds that the he government is working on a regulatory framework for introduction of mobile television services and attributed to the shortage of airwaves in the 700 MHz band to be behind the delay in policy formulation.

     "This assumes particular significance as countries all over the world have launched Mobile TV services way back while in India we are still at the policy formulation stage primarily due to non availability of sufficient spectrum," the I&B secretary's communication to DoT said. Mohan also added that adequate airwaves should be earmarked for this purpose, as recommended by Trai, "so that there is no shortage of spectrum when the policy is formulated in the future".

        In 2008, the US government raised close to $20 billion by auctioning three blocks of spectrum in the 700 MHz band. Two years prior to this, the US House of Representatives approved a new policy that mandated analog television broadcasters to clear the 700 MHz airwaves and switch their operations to the digital mode. The improved spectral efficiency of digital broadcast freed up large chunks of airwaves in 700 MHz band. The winners in the US spectrum auctions include Verizon, AT&T, Qualcom (in some areas) and Frontier Wireless.

        The broadband wireless spectrum auctions in India last year delivered the government an unexpected bonanza of 38,543 crore ($8.25 billion), twice the amount predicted by analysts. The 3G and broadband spectrums jointly fetched 1,06,000 crore for the government against its estimates of 35,000 crore.

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