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| EGoM meet tomorrow to review 3G spectrum vacation |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi Nov 18, 2009, 19:21 IST |
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An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) will meet tomorrow to review progress on auction of 3G mobile licences, amid sharp differences between the telecom and defence ministries over release of spectrum (airwaves) for commercial use.
The government plans to commence auction of 3G (third generation) spectrum from January 14, next year, but lack of clarity on number of slots to be sold could derail the process.
The government has estimated a revenue of about Rs 35,000 crore from sale of spectrum in the current financial year.
The EGoM's meeting is the second in three days. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the EGoM, had met Telecom Minister A Raja and Defence Minister A K Antony earlier this week but the two (Department of Telecom and Ministry of Defence) failed to resolve the contentious issue of vacating spectrum for 3G mobile telephony.
According to senior DoT officials, the Defence Ministry's position is that it does not have any idle spectrum to vacate, contrary to DoT's claim that defence had spectrum to spare.
"DoT has said that they have 3G spectrum but the Ministry of Defence is not accepting it, as they are saying the radio frequency is being used by them and cannot be vacated," they added.
As per the agenda of the meeting tomorrow, "the EGoM will review progress of vacation of spectrum."
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