The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), headed by Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance has decided to permit new players and mobile operators that lost their licenses as a result of the Supreme Court?s verdict in the 2G case to bid for a maximum of 6.25 MHz of airwaves in 1800 MHz band in the upcoming spectrum auction.
The nine member EGoM accepted the recommendations of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to allow new entrants to bid for 5 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band. While accepting DoT?s recommendations the panel headed by Mukherjee also added a clause that new players would be allowed to bid for one additional block of 1.25 MHz.
GSM players will be allowed to bid for a maximum of 2 blocks or 2.5 MHz of airwaves. Existing CDMA operators would be allowed to bid for only one block. CDMA operators who lost their licenses following Supreme Court order cancelling 122 2G license can bid for a maximum of 3 blocks of 3.75 MHz each in the 800 MHz band.
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