TC finalises spectrum base price with some riders

The Telecom Commission's decision will now be placed before Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for final approval

The inter-ministerial panel, Telecom Commission, has finalised the base price for spectrum to be auctioned in February with some riders.

The commission held a meeting on Monday to discuss the next round of spectrum auction, including finalisation of the base price. “The commission has given approval to DoT (department of telecom)’s committee recommended reserve price with some conditions. Other matters regarding the auction were also discussed,” said a source.

The committee had suggested a base price of Rs 3,646 crore a MHz for the auction of 800-MHz spectrum, used for offering CDMA services, 17 per cent higher than what the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended.

The price for 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz as recommended by the DoT committee could not be ascertained.

The commission’s decision will now be placed before Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for final approval and, after that, the Cabinet might be approached for certain issues, the source said.

The commission on Monday discussed the revised recommendations submitted by sectoral regulator Trai on pricing of the 800, 900 and 1,800 MHz bands.

Trai has reiterated its recommendations for the 900 and 1,800 MHz bands, while it has increased the base price by 15 per cent for 800 MHz band. The DoT had sent back Trai's recommendations on 800, 900 and 1,800 MHz bands for reconsidering some points.

The next round of spectrum auction is proposed in February and the government is estimated to garner at least Rs 9,355 crore from sale of radiowaves.

Most of the spectrum which is proposed to be put for sale is being used by Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications across various parts of the country.

These companies will need to buy back radiowaves to continue their operations in areas where their licences expire in 2015-16.

Trai has also released a consultation paper on pricing of 2,100 MHz band, used for offering third generation (3G) services, as the government plans to auction this band along with 800, 900 and 1,800 MHz in February.

Telecom companies as well as the regulator have been of the view that the auction should take place only when adequate spectrum is made available, and the bidding should be held simultaneously for both the services,  2G and 3G.