DoT adamant, FinMin giving up on 3G deadline

With the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) making it clear that it will require another 45 to 60 days for completing the 3G spectrum auction, the finance ministry feels angry, but helpless.

Finance ministry officials made a final effort last week to get the DoT to complete the jobs by the all-important deadline of March 31, the end of the current financial year, by giving a written assurance that spectrum for the auction would be available to all successful bidders by September 1 and not in various stages.

DoT officials, who had a series of meetings on the issue on Tuesday , however said it could not be done in less than 45 to 60 days. They did not give any detail of the new deadline.

This is a major dampener for finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who had budgeted over Rs 30,000 crore as revenue coming from 3G auctions in this financial year, which would have been key in helping him meet his budget deficit target. Mukherjee was also chairman of the empowered group of ministers set up to speeden the 3G auction and played a key role in trying to push for the auctions this year.

Said a top finance ministry official to Business Standard: “We wanted the money from the auction to come this fiscal. However, it is (now) highly unlikely that we can complete the auction process in this financial year, as the process of starting the auction and completing it takes time. And, we do not have that kind of time available due to the various delays at the end of the Department of Telecommunications . We want it to happen this fiscal , but it looks highly unlikely .”

The finance ministry had met various objections from the defence and law ministries, and then those from the DoT, but it doesn’t seem enough to meet the March 31 deadline.