The matter was to be taken up by the Group of Ministers on Spectrum Management headed by Defence Minister A K Antony and has Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia as its members besides Telecom Minister A Raja. The GoM was to meet for first time after two years on June 13, but this was cancelled at the last moment.

With the Air Force taking a different view, the DoT has a case study to show for good cooperation. The Army, in the meantime, has dug its heels. The problem is that what the Army is asking for would cost up to Rs 4,500 crore. This is way above DoT’s estimate of Rs 980 crore to cater for setting up an alternate communication network system for the Armed Forces in lieu of freeing up 45 MHz of spectrum.

On the other hand, the Army argues that the revenue generated from the freed-up space will more than enough to offset this cost.