New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) The government has approved release of one block of 3G spectrum each to BSNL and MTNL, communications minister A. Raja said Thursday. “We have approved the release of one block to MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) in Delhi and Mumbai/metro service areas and the release of another block to BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) for other service areas,” he said.

The approval comes after the minister’s announcement last week to allow the two government-owned cellphone companies first mover advantage over private operators.

The spectrum blocks released for the two companies have the size of 2X5 MHz in 2.1 GHz band.

Raja has also approved release of a block of 20 MHz Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum each to both the public sector utilities.

The spectrum block released for the two companies will be in the 2.5 GHz band at 2645.0 MHz.

Raja has approved payment of up to Rs.20 billion per annum from Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund to compensate loss from operation from rural connections resulting from removal of Access Deficit Charge (ABC) by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).