EGoM suggests reducing reserve price for spectrum

21 Jul 2012 Evaluate

The proposal to lessen reserve price for auction of spectrum will be put forward to the Cabinet by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had suggested a base price of Rs 16,000 crore for 5 Mhz spectrum, while the EGoM has decided to recommend a fee that could range between Rs 14,000-16,000 crore.

And the telecom companies might have to pay spectrum usage charge of 3-6 percent of their annual revenues. The EGoM has also agreed to allow the telecom companies to pay for spectrum in installments. In line with the recommendations of TRAI it has approved the plans that, GSM operators have to pay about 35% of their bid amount as first installment, while CDMA players will have to pay about 25%. And the operators will get a two-year moratorium and the balance can be paid over a 10-year period.

The EGoM is supposed to present all the options related to the upcoming auction to the Cabinet for a final decision, in order to meet the Supreme Court set deadline. The apex court has asked the government to complete the auction by August 31.

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