With the auction for 3G spectrum round the corner, the government has set up a committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar to monitor vacation of radio waves by the defence forces.

The move is likely to expedite vacation of spectrum by the defence forces and timely completion of auction of spectrum as announced recently by an empowered group of ministers (eGom) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The committee would look into, besides vacation of spectrum, setting up of dedicated optic fibre cable network for the armed forces, a source said adding that the committee is likely to meet soon to discuss the road map for the same.

Other members of the committee include defence, telecom and expenditure secretaries.

The Department of Telecommunication and the Defence Ministry had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for release of spectrum, where the latter had agreed to release spectrum to be used for both 3G and existing 2G mobile services.

The Defence Ministry had agreed to release 10 Mhz of spectrum for third generation mobile services and another 5 Mhz for existing GSM operators immediately on signing the agreement with the condition that before it releases the spectrum DoT has to install a dedicated optical fibre network for them.

Last month, Telecom Minister A Raja while announcing the reserve price for 3G spectrum had said that the auction process was likely to be completed within 90 days.