EGoM on Telecom deferred again

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Telecom, which was scheduled to meet today to work out the roadmap for spectrum that was unsold in the recent auction, has been deferred.

The meeting was deferred following the death of former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, sources said.

The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, was scheduled to meet today after it was deferred from November 29 as the key ministers who are part of this panel were engaged in Parliament.

The high-powered panel was to discuss the road-map for auction of unsold GSM spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka.

The EGoM has to decide on reserve price that should be fixed for these service areas. It also has to decide on CDMA spectrum which had no takers.

The recent auction of GSM spectrum attracted bids worth only Rs 9,407 crore, as against minimum expected amount of Rs 28,000 crore.

There is also a proposal to conduct an auction of 900 Mhz band in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata along with 1800 Mhz band but EGoM has to take a final call on the proposal.

Telecom operators prefer 900 Mhz band as they need to deploy lower number of telecom towers compared to those in 1800 Mhz band.

The new date for EGoM meeting could not be immediately ascertained.