The government is unlikely to put for sale the entire 2G spectrum during the upcoming auctions. Since such a move will lead to a demand supply mismatch, the government plans to auction a part of the spectrum that will available with it after the aggrieved companies in the recent supreme Court?s verdict return the same.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has arrived at this conclusion after results of an audit revealed it would have 923.80 MHz of bandwidth whereas peak requirement would not exceed 725 MHz, assuming all companies whose licences have been cancelled re-bid and incumbents also participate in the auction. DoT is, therefore, against auctioning the entire lot, as it will lead to supply exceeding demand, which will depress the prices and yield less to the exchequer.
Currently, the government (as per the DoT?s audit) has some 211 MHz of 2G spectrum which will rise to 624.6 MHz upon the receipt of bandwidth from the 122 cancellations and further to 923.80 MHz once the armed forces transfer airwaves held by them in the 2G band.
