Telecom spectrum auction deferred to March 4

The much-awaited auction of 2G and 3G telecom spectrum has been deferred to March 4 from Feb 25, an amended Notice Inviting Application by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said Tuesday.

The last date of submissions of applications is now Feb 16 -- postponed from Feb 6 as declared earlier.

The total spectrum put to auction is 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 1800 MHz band -- a total of 380.75 MHz in 800, 900 and 1800 MHz. It will also put on sale 5 MHz in the 2100 MHz band, which is used for 3G services in 17 out of 22 telecom areas.

The reserve price approved is Rs.3,646 crore pan-India per MHZ in 800 MHz, Rs.3,980 crore for 900 MHz band pan-India excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Jammu and Kashmir; and Rs.2,191 crore pan-India (excluding Maharashtra and West Bengal) in 1800 MHz band, the ministry said earlier.

But the government is yet to fix the reserve price for 2100 MHz. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Dec 31 had recommended a base price of Rs.2,720 crore per megahertz for 2100 Mhz band as against pan-India reserve price of Rs.3,500 crore per MHz in the 2010 auction of 3G spectrum.

In December 2015, seven licences each of Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications, four licences of Bharti Airtel and six licences of Vodafone will complete their 20-year term after which they should be renewed.

The estimated revenues from this auction are Rs.64,840 crore (excluding 2100 MHz spectrum) of which Rs.16,000 crore is expected to be realised in the current financial year (2014-15). The revenue target from spectrum auction set by the government in the 2014-15 budget is Rs.45,471 crore.