Thursday, December 10, 2009

Govt to auction only 3 slots of 3G spectrume

STAFF WRITER 14:57 HRS IST

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) In a surprise move that could deprive it of over Rs 5,000 crore in revenue, the government has said the 3G telephony spectrum available with it for sale currently could accommodate only three operators.

A fourth slot has already been awarded to state-owned MTNL (that operates in Delhi and Mumbai) and BSNL (rest of India).

It had earlier planned to auction spectrum to four private bidders, in addition to the state-run firms.

The decision comes in the wake of the Ministry of Defence's reluctance to vacate the designated spectrum (air waves) for commercial use, official sources said, adding that the required notification would be issued soon.

The government has fixed the reserve price of spectrum at Rs 3,500 crore for pan-India 3G spectrum and Rs 1,750 crore for Wimax (wireless ineternet/broadband) and the auction is scheduled to begin from January 14 next year.

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