"Mistake” to fix high reserve price for 2G spectrum auction; Montek Singh Ahluwalia

22 Nov 2012 Evaluate

A week after flop 2G spectrum auction, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia accepted that it was a mistake to fix such a high reserve price for the 2G spectrum auction, which kept leading telecom companies away from the bidding.

Ahluwalia, who was part of an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) that fixed Rs 14,000 crore as the base price, also has urged the government to relook at the reserve price for the upcoming auction of unsold spectrum during the current financial year. However, deputy commission underscored, that EGoM had lowered the reserve price from Rs 18,000 crore as pegged by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to Rs 14,000 crore, which by the end of it yet again turned out to be higher.

Sure that eventually the right price will be discovered, Ahluwalia said that “A healthy auction is key to price discovery,” adding that since the Supreme Court has observed that an auction is not necessarily the only option, the Telecom Ministry could propose an alternative, which could be considered on merit.

In a bid to prune fiscal deficit, government which was banking on raising over Rs 40,000 crore from the 2G spectrum auction met with disappointment. India's telecommunications-spectrum auction for the 1,800-megahertz frequency band, used for basic mobile-telephone services under the global system for mobile communications technology, received a subdued response from participants, as this garnered mere Rs 9,407 crore.

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