The process of determining the price of spectrum in the upcoming auction has been put on the fast track.
Prior to this, the Telecom Commission planned to present two options before the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) established for overseeing the auction process. These options were suggested by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and an internal committee of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
It is believed that the first option entailed a minimum of eight blocks of 1.25 MHz of spectrum to be put up for auction in all service areas after reserving spectrum for re-farming. This may also include the provision to make available another three blocks of 1.25 MHz of spectrum to meet the requirement of new players.
The second option is to put all available spectrum up for auction, which includes the 55 MHz spectrum currently held by the Ministry of Defence. Also, the Telecom Commission has reportedly recommended that existing players be allowed to win a maximum of two spectrum blocks of 1.25 MHz each while new players can bid for up to four blocks of spectrum of 1.25 MHz each.
For CDMA operators, the Telecom Commission has proposed selling three blocks of spectrum of 1.25 MHz in the 800 MHz band.
Now, in its recently held meeting, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) reportedly decided to auction at least 10 MHz of spectrum and proceed with spectrum re-farming.
Also, the EGoM has extended the date for receiving bids by potential companies to June 8, 2012, while the date for submission of bids has been extended to July 5, 2012.
However, the EGoM did not take a decision on the reserve price for the 2G spectrum auction. A decision on this subject will reportedly be taken on June 22.
