By IANS
Chennai : The assessment of the availability of the wireless spectrum for communication services is likely to be over by the first week of September, IT and Communications Minister A. Raja said here Thursday.
Raja was speaking on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate global computer giant IBM’s sixth global delivery centre in India, to be housed in Chennai.
He said once the defence ministry freed some of the spectrum it held, his ministry would be able to provide more communication depth.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has sanctioned Rs.16 billion for laying an optical fibre alternative network for the armed forces so that they would be able to vacate 42.5 Mhz in the spectrum, including the 3G spectrum, by September.
Raja promised that mobile phone users in India would soon be able to retain their numbers even after changing the service provider.
His ministry would give “a fair hearing to everyone concerned on the issue of number portability”, the minister said.