Reserve price for 2,100-MHz band likely today

The Telecom Commission, highest policy making body of the department of telecommunications (DoT), will meet on Wednesday to consider the report of an internal committee on the final reserve price for 2,100-MHz band spectrum.

The committee has termed the pricing of 2,100-MHz band spectrum, as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), as low. The committee has recommended that it be increased based on the price at the auction held in 2010 and adjusted to inflation for the past four years according to the prime lending rate of the State Bank of India.

According to the committee, the price could be Rs 4,800 crore and the final reserve price could be fixed at 80 per cent of this amount, sources said. Trai had on December 31, 2014, recommended a base price of Rs 2,720 crore per MHz for the 2100-MHz band spectrum across the country (22 telecom zones). The price is 22 per cent lower than the reserve price of the same spectrum in the previous auction in 2010 (Rs 3,500- crore a MHz).