Summary Record of 160th SACFA Meeting held on 14.3.2005

The 160th meeting of Standing Advisory Committee on radio Frequency Allocations (SACFA) was held on 14TH March, 2005 at 10.30 hrs in the Conference Hall, 13th Floor Sanchar Bhavan, New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Shri K.L. Jain Member(T) to discuss and clear the siting cases of government departments, public sector undertakings, government licensed service providers and other Private sectors. The list of participants is annexed.

2. Member (T) welcomed the participants and drew the attention of SACFA members that the growth of mobile services will increase many folds in coming years i.e.2005 to 2007. They have to accept the challenge and convey their comments expeditiously in order to enable orderly growth. He further stated that it is necessary to increase the telephone density for the development of economy.

3.Sri P.K. Garg, Wireless Adviser to the Govt. of India gave a brief account of the issues to be taken in the meeting. He stated that the filing of online siting applications has started from 1.3.2005 and requested the SACFA members to process these cases on line. He explained that after examination of the online applications, the SACFA Sectt. will allot WPC acceptance number/date and circulate electronically to all members for their comments. Applicants will also submit an ink signed copy of the application, map and SOI certificates wherever necessary, and giving WPC ACCEPTANCE NUMBER to all concerned SACFA members. The SACFA members will send their comments in respect of each case circulated by SACFA Sectt., electronically, using web interface. He mentioned that some SACFA members have not changed even their user pass word so far, and sought the cooperation of all SACFA members to make the system successful.

3.1It was also mentioned that receiving physical NOCs/comments from the SACFA members, in respect of applications circulated electronically, may create confusion besides difficulty to incorporate such comments/NOCs in the web format by the SACFA Sectt. As this situation may defeat the very purpose of on-line/automated processing. SACFA members were requested to switchover to the new system as early as possible.

4. Wireless Adviser briefly explained the need for re-constitution of National Working Groups(NWG) in view of the forth coming WRC-2007 for considering and consolidating the national views for appropriate projections. Approval of SACFA for the above was recorded.

5.The member from AAI stated that SACFA Sectt has not responded to their letter submitted after 158th SACFA meeting, conveying suggestions for expeditions clearance of sites with respect to various airports. It was clarified that SACFA Sectt. has already replied to this issue in the SACFA meeting and further comments are awaited from AAI. Wireless Adviser further stated that SACFA Sectt. acknowledges the receipt of this letter and apprise the latest in this regard.

6.AAI representative referred to the criteria of giving exemption of mast height clearance above 3 meter on roof top, which is in violation of government order and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) practices. The Secretary, SACFA clarified that this issue had been decided long back after debate in SACFA Review Committee meeting, to promote the small wireless users. This practice is in vogue for a long period and no untoward incident had been reported.

7.Sr. DDG (VAS) stated that they have extended the deadline for starting of service in respect of some of the service providers such as M/s Bharti Hexacom Limited for North East; Escorts Telecom Limited for Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan & UP(East) and M/s Reliable Internet Services Limited for Kolkatta till June/July 2005. He observed that siting cases in respect of these service providers do not appear in the brief and may kindly be expedited. DWA(P) clarified that SACFA Secretariat is not in receipt of applications from the above service providers.

7.1 He added that it has come to notice that some Service Providers are establishing sites within 10 Kms from International Border. In such cases, the SACFA Sectt. should straightaway reject these cases. At this, Member (T) directed that this is the responsibility of service providers to follow the licensing conditions strictly. However, in case of such requirement, specific permission should be obtained by the service provider from the Service Licensing Group of DOT.

  1. JCES representative informed that some of the service providers are erecting antenna structure without even applying for siting clearance to SACFA Sectt. Wireless Adviser stated that few such instances have been reported to the SACFA Sectt. and we have already informed the concerned service providers for immediate corrective measures.
  1. Member (T) invited the attention of SACFA members to resolve the issue of the site-map as it is not possible to send the maps on line along with the application. Wireless Adviser also added that there are other constraints to put the SOI map on Web site and requested the SACFA Members to forward their views, which could be discussed separately. After discussion, it was however agreed that the city maps/BNN maps, which are coordinate marked and authenticated by an appropriate agency, may be accepted. It was also suggested that geo-coordinates obtained by using GPS receivers for the sites which are more than 3 KMs away from the nearest airport should be accepted.
  1. The member from Defence Service desired that there should be facility in the software to down load the siting cases from website for further processing and up load the comments back to the website after examination. It was clarified that at present this facility is not available and efforts will be made to achieve this, in consultation with the contracto, who has developed the software.

11.Thereafter, the Wireless Adviser initiated discussions as per the agenda circulated. As regards the ANR cases discussed in the 159th meeting of SACFA held on 22.11.2004, after a brief discussion, it was decided that all cases of ‘Application Not Received (ANR)’ will be cleared by SACFA Sectt. in the absence of any further comment(s) from the members within four weeks from the date of 160th SACFA meeting, in respect of which the applicant provides sufficient proof for having submitted the application/desired information to the concerned member(s). In this regard, the applicants were advised to provide the proof of submitting such information to the concerned member(s). Otherwise, based on the decisions of 158/159 SACFA, all such cases will be dropped.

12. As regards the cases circulated between 1.7.2004 to 30.9..2004, many SACFA members reported non receipt of many applications/cases. Wireless Adviser advised them to give the list of such cases for suitable reflection in the summary record, for necessary compliance by the applicants. The applicants were advised to submit the siting applications to concerned SACFA member(s) within forty eight hours and the SACFA members were advised to send their comments in respect of U/E cases, within four weeks.

  1. The status of discussions on the siting cases considered in this meeting are as per enclosed Annexure-2
  2. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the chair.