Spectrum management for wireless communication an overview

Realization by the Government of India (GoI) in the last decade that the targeted economic growth in the country would need expansion of telecommunication services resulted in drafting, of the National Telecom Policy 1994 and New Telecom policy 1999. These policies lead a way to an era of multiple telecom operators in the country and rapid expansion in the cellular subscriber case. In view of limited spectrum and its allocation to multiple operators, GoI made many reforms at technical and administrative level in order to achieve transparency and efficiency in the process. These included establishment of various independent bodies like TRAI and TDSAT, strengthening existing committees like WPCC and SACFA and drafting of NFAP 2000 and NFAP 2002. The role and interaction among these bodies, to protect the interest of both the operator and user, are first described in this paper. Spectrum allocation methods for various services in India and spectrum efficiency considerations for various technologies like GSM and CDMA are then discussed. Finally, major features of NFAP 2000 and NFAP 2002 including frequency band allocation for WLL, cmTS and IMT-2000 are described.