| Prices | Financials | Company Info | Reports NEW DELHI: With the previous two rounds of spectrum auctions ending in failure, the panel of ministers on spectrum will decide on Wednesday whether to reduce the reserve price for spectrum to be auctioned in the 1800, 900 and the 800 MHz bands, or to seek fresh inputs from the telecom regulator. According to a note prepared for the empowered group of ministers (EGoM), the panel will also take a call on whether to make it compulsory for mobile phone operators to migrate to the unified licence at the time of renewal/extension of licences. The note, prepared by the department of telecommunications, has proposed a timeline of 70 days to kick-start the auction in the 1800 and the 900 MHz bands, after receiving Cabinet approval. The auction of airwaves in the 800 MHz band would follow two days after the 1800 and 900 MHz spectrum auctions end. The EGoM would also deliberate on whether to continue with the staggered payment model and the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned.
The DoT has suggested that 286.10 MHz of spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and 30 MHz in the 800 MHz band should be put up for sale in the next round. In doing so, the government would comply with a Supreme Court order which asked the government to auction all the spectrum freed up after it quashed 122 telecom licences last February. The Cabinet note also seeks to offer an option to the winners in the 1800 MHz band to withdraw their bids if they cannot be assigned contiguous 5 MHz of spectrum, provided the quantum of bid is a multiple of 5 MHz. However, despite the strong opposition from Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, the note has argued that it should be mandatory for cellular companies to migrate to the unified licence regime at the time of renewal of a licence as this would be in conformity with the National Telecom Policy 2012 and the recommendations made by the telecom regulator. Vodafone, on June 14, had written to DoT requesting that at the time of renewal, operators be given a choice on whether they wish to migrate to unified licence or to continue with the existing structure. Given the poor results of the previous two rounds of spectrum auctions, experts felt that a further reduction in the base price was likely. Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had suggested that the EGoM should ask the telecom regulator to review the reserve price. Copyright © 2013 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.  via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHax8ZwR_p0RcUk3P7NBG7lKIUkCA&url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/egom-to-discuss-spectrum-pricing-issue-for-next-auction-on-tuesday/articleshow/20753675.cms | |||
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