The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has requested the defence ministry to release 662 MHz of spectrum in various frequency bands for the provision of commercial telecom services. It has asked the ministry to surrender a minimum of 112 MHz out of 500 MHz in the 900 MHz band, 135 MHz out of 1650 MHz in the 1800 MHz band and 415 MHz out of 1320 MHz in the 2100 MHz band for commercial utilisation by the telecom service providers. The industry association is of the view that auctioning these frequency airwaves even at the reserve price of earlier auctions will result in higher revenues than that provisioned in the Union Budget for 2014-15.

ASSOCHAM has also pointed out that the current allotment of spectrum to the defence forces has divided the frequency bands into small areas, which has resulted in the frequency airwaves becoming inefficient for the 3G and 4G technologies as they require contiguous spectrum.  The industry association added that auctioning of vacated spectrum by defence forces will potentially reduce the fiscal deficit by 0.4 per cent in 2014-15.

Earlier, Cellular Operators Association of India had also asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to facilitate swap of 15 MHz of spectrum in the 2100 MHz held by defence forces with an equal quantum of frequency airwaves in the 1900 MHz band.