The defence ministry will release 45 MHz of additional spectrum by the end of the year for provision of 3G services. According to Minister for IT and Communications Dayanidhi Maran, the spectrum will be released in the IMT 2000 and 1800-1900 MHz bands which will help achieve the target of 500 million telephone connections by 2010. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already consulted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the pricing structure. A coordination committee has been set up for the Rs 10 billion project to retrieve the spectrum.