According to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), operators must bid in the upcoming 2G auctions to renew their existing licences which are set to expire in 2014, saw news reports.
Following, the EGoM’s decision, incumbent operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular will have to participate in the auctions that are scheduled to be held before end-March 2013 to extend the validity of their licences in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
Prior to the EGoM’s decision of mandating operators to participate in the auctions to extend the validity of their existing licences, operators were assured of retaining their licences by paying the market price for spectrum held by them.
The EGoM’s move is aimed at ensuring that the forthcoming auctions witness greater participation, unlike the recently concluded auction, which failed to generate revenue as per the government’s expectations.
