2G spectrum auction may be delayed

The auction of 2G spectrum might be delayed, as the government may file a petition in the Supreme Court for an extension of the timeline. According to current SC directive, the auction has to be conducted by August 31 this year. However, due to procedural delays, the department of telecommunications is looking at extending the timeline.

Though a final decision will be taken only after the next meeting of empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. IThe meeting might happen towards the end of this month, where a final decision on reserve price of spectrum auction will also taken besides spectrum refarming and others.

The process of auction of spectrum is expected to start from August 6 with the issuance of Information Memorandum. The EGoM had on Tuesday cleared a proposal to auction a minimum of 10 MHz of 2G spectrum but put off a decision on the contentious issue of determining the reserve price for spectrum auction.

It decided to auction a minimum of eight blocks in all service areas after reserving spectrum for refarming against allocation in 900 MHz for incumbent operators whose licence will expire during 2014 to 2016.