National Frequency Allocation Plan

The National Frequency Allocation Plan-2011 (NAFP) was released at New Delhi on September 30 by Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology to ensure its efficient and effective management. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sibal said that in today’s society, radio spectrum is becoming increasingly important for all walks of life and needs to be managed rationally. While spectrum management has always been important, the complexity of the task has been compounded by the proliferation of both traditional and entirely new radio spectrum frequency-using services in recent years.

The Minister underlined that it is essential that these scarce resources be used rationally, optimally, efficiently and economically so that equitable access could be available to a large variety of radio communication network in an interference free radio environment. Therefore planning of frequency bands for various services/applications for their coexistence without constraining the existing assignments is essential. The growing demand for information rich content, faster access speeds and mobility by both commercial and captive users is increasingly being met by broadband wireless application, Shri Sibal added.

NFAP-2011 is a policy document which contains spectrum allocation for various radio communication services/applications in different frequency bands. This document provides the basis for development, manufacturing and spectrum utilization activities in the country, both for government and private sectors.

NFAP-2011 will come into effect from October 1, 2011. It contains International and National frequency allocation table, footnotes to international table of frequency allocations, India remark and channeling plan in different frequency bands.

The salient features of NFAP-2011 are:
• It is in line with the Radio Regulations of International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
• It has been developed to cater to the needs of newly emerging technologies such as Ultra Wide Band (UWB), Intelligent Transport System (ITS), Short Range Devices, etc.
• It has enabled provisions in few frequency bands for indigenous development and manufacturing.
• The NFAP-2011 has taken due care to ensure protection of existing services.
• It has kept in view the requirement projected by all stakeholders.