Telecom Commission to meet on Dec 8 on spectrum auction

Govt has estimated to garner about Rs 9,355 cr by auctioning 800, 900 and 1800MHz spectrum,

Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body within the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is scheduled to meet on December 8 to deliberate on the next round of spectrum auction proposed to be held in February.

The Government has estimated to garner about Rs 9,355 crore by auctioning 800, 900 and 1800MHz spectrum, while an addition Rs 5,000 crore is estimated to come from sale of 2100MHz band of airwaves.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has already submitted its revised recommendations on the pricing of 800, 900 and 1800MHz bands, and the consultation for pricing and valuation of the 2100MHz band is underway.

The telecom regulator has reiterated its recommendations for 900 and 1800MHz bands while it has increased the base price by 15 per cent for 800MHz band.

The Telecom Commission will discuss the recommendations to take a call on the reserve price and other details regarding the auction.

Most of the spectrum which is proposed to be put up for sale is being used by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications (RCom). These companies will need to renew their licences to continue operations in areas where their licences are expiring in 2015-16.