The defence ministry has decided against the spectrum swap proposal of the Department of Telecommunications. DoT had proposed that the ministry vacate 15 MHz of spectrum in the 2100 MHz band in exchange for the same amount of spectrum in 1900 MHz band, which is held by DoT.
DoT has not been able to decide the frequencies to be marked as the defence band. As a result, the ministry has not agreed to swap their 15 MHz spectrum in the 900 MHz band, to offer contiguous spectrum to telecom operators. The ministry has also cited technical issues pertaining to the use of spectrum in critical border areas.
DoT is scheduled to auction a total of 184 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz band currently held by telecom operators whose licences are due to expire in November 2015. Along with this, it also plans to auction 104 MHz in the 1800 Mhz band. Due to disagreement between the ministry and DoT regarding spectrum swap, the government is unlikely to put up spectrum in the 2100 MHz band for sale in the auction.