Finance ministry asks DoT to auction BWA spectrum soon

20 Jul 2011 Evaluate

The Department of Telecom is expected to go for the auction of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) soon. In order to meet the fiscal deficit for the current financial year, the Finance Ministry is putting pressure on the DoT for auction of broadband spectrums at the earliest. In this regard, the finance ministry had written twice to the DoT to immediately auction of BWA.

The Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar on July 20 said, 'they (finance ministry) have asked us to expedite the process and we are certainly working on all the aspects involved... We will have to decide the timing of the auction because we will need to try and auction in a manner in which it gives a nationwide footprint.'

It is reported that the sale of one block of BAW spectrum may generate revenue of around Rs 13,000 crore, which would help government to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.6% of the GDP. Last year, government had generated revenue of around 1 lakh crore through the 3G and BWA spectrum. 

On the other hand, TRAI, the telecom regulator is insisting DoT on cancellation of 74 licenses for missing roll-out obligations. TRAI had asked to cancel 74 licenses for missing roll-out obligations whereas DoT wants the numbers to be just 12. 

On the issue of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT's) instructions to allot 2G spectrum to Tata Teleservices (TTSL), telecom secretary said, '... Action has to be taken now after TDSAT order based on availability of spectrum. Overall, we are looking to take the decision as fast as possible.' The TDSAT, telecom tribunal, has asked department of telecom to allocate start-up 2G spectrum to the TTSL and is had hauled up DoT for deferring the allocation for nearly 3 years.

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