A high-powered Group of Ministers today fixed Rs 3,500 crore as reserve price for pan-India 3G spectrum and decided to allow only five operators to offer the high-speed mobile services in the first phase.

Four new players will be given spectrum along with one existing operator - BSNL or MTNL - in their respective circles.

Emerging from the meeting of the empowered Group of Ministers, Telecom Minister A Raja told reporters: "The government will complete the auction of 3G spectrum within three months and expects to raise Rs 25,000 crore (from sale of both 3G and WiMax spectrum) ."

The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, has also fixed the reserve price of Rs 1,750 crore for the WiMax services.

The EGoM was given the option of fixing the base price at Rs 2,020 crore by DoT initially, but was later changed to Rs 4,040 crore by Ministry of Finance, but the eGoM went for its own pricing after representations from the private operators to slightly lower it.
    
The next generation 3G mobile services allows high-end mobile data services including video streaming and high-speed internet.

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