Doordarshan wants share in 3.4-3.6 Ghz

NEW DELHI, INDIA: While the Department of Telecom is busy convincing the Department of Space to vacate 100 Mhz of spectrum from frequency band of 3.4 Ghz -3.6 Ghz, CIOL has learnt from official sources that India's public broadcaster Doordarshan has demanded for additional spectrum in the band of 3.4-3.6 GHz.

Doordarshan already has unused 224 Mhz bandwidth in UHF Band V (582Mhz -806 Mhz). Doordarshan is in possession of UHF Band IV (470- 582 Mhz) in which it runs 14 TV channels in analogue mode. This band can be made more efficient by digitalizing these channels. However, according to an official from Doordarshan, it has started digitalizing all the analog channels and expects to complete digitalization by 2017.

Fixed and mobile services are primary services in most of the frequency bands that are with Doordarshan and the Department of Telecommunication has also urged in the past to the the public broadcaster to vacate some of the frequencies for mobile telephony.

The frequency band of 3.4-3.6 Ghz is primarily meant for fixed and fixed-satellite service and not for broadcasting as per International Telecommunication Union norms.

This is lower extended C-band and is presently occupied by the Department of Space for INSAT service. TRAI in its recommendation on July 11, 2008 has expressed that 100 Mhz from this band can be easily co-ordinated for BWA spectrum.

However, Wireless Planning Commission has refused to allocate any additional spectrum to Doordarshan and the matter has to be further decided by the empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM).

When CIOL asked A. Raja, Union Minister for IT and Communication, about the issue, he only acknowledged to have received communication from Ambika Soni, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

“Ambika Soni has written a letter to me. We will look at it,” said Raja. However, he did not reveal the details of this letter.

CIOL also contacted BS Lalli, chief executive officer, Prasar Bharti but no comments were received from him on this issue.