Telecom EGoM meets today on 2G spectrum re-auction

Running against the August 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court for the telecom spectrum re-auction, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the subject is expected to meet again tomorrow, on crucial issues related to the reserve price, usage charge, deferred payment options by operators and rollout obligations.

Officials say the EGoM is also expected to decide whether it will approach the SC for an extension of the deadline, by when the department of telecommunications (DoT) was supposed to complete the auction of 2G spectrum.

After the earlier EGoM meeting last Thursday, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had indicated the DoT would try to meet the August deadline. However, with no decision on reserve price and one -time spectrum charge from existing operators, this is unlikely.

A decision on the roll-out obligations are also likely to be taken at the EGoM, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram. In the last meeting, the matter was discussed but a decision deferred. DoT, on July 13, discussed the issue of roll-out obligations with leading operators such as Airtel, Vodafone, Uninor and MTS. The EGoM wants operators to cover 20 per cent of block-level headquarters by the end of the second year and 30 per cent by the third year.

Telecom companies whose licences were cancelled have been opposing the network roll-out condition recommended by Trai and this issue was one of the agenda for the earlier EGoM meet.

Tomorrow’s meeting is also expected to come out with some decisions on deferred payments by successful bidders. Earlier, the Telecom Commission had opposed the proposal to allow successful bidders to make the payment for spectrum in instalments. The EGoM is also expected to take a final call on the spectrum usage charge for operators and on financial bid structure options for selection of auctioneers.

In the earlier meeting, the EGoM had decided to allow banks to auction spectrum mortgaged to them by operators in case of a default, but did not arrive at a decision on the contentious issue of spectrum pricing. Any decision tomrrow on reserve price of the spectrum is expected to be put before the full cabinet for final approval.