The issue of identifying an appropriate method to determine the price of spectrum in the upcoming auction continues.
Now, as per news reports, the Telecom Commission is planning 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). Thereafter, the EGoM will take a final decision on the subject.
It is believed that the first option entails 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.
