(a) whether there is a severe spectrum crunch leading to deterioration in quality
of telecom services in the country;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether it will affect the expansion of telecom services;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to improve the situation?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (DR. SHAKEEL AHMAD)
(a) to (d) To meet the quality of mobile telecom services, introduction of additional
Base Trans-receiver Stations (BTSs), adopting microcell architecture and techniques such
as installation of Boosters, adequate number of inter-operator junctions, interconnection
infrastructure, etc., are required besides necessity for adequate radio frequency spectrum.
(e) A Project has been taken up to provide an alternate communication network, based
on the Optical Fiber Cable system, for one of the existing wireless users, which would
release some radio frequency spectrum for the mobile telephony services.