Govt issues guidelines for second round of spectrum auction

23 Jan 2013 Evaluate

The government has issued guidelines for the second round of spectrum auction which is expected to fetch around Rs 45,000 crore to exchequer from airwaves sale. However, the guidelines did not mention the timeline for starting auction and related dates.

In the second round of auction, the government will put unsold GSM spectrum in 1800 MHz band, CDMA spectrum in 800 MHz and airwaves held by telecom licences in 900 MHz band that is coming for renewal starting 2014 onwards. As per the auction guidelines, spectrum auction for 1800 MHz and 900 MHz band, currently being used for GSM services, will be conducted simultaneously and auction of 800 MHz band, being used for CDMA services, in 21 out of 22 service area will be conducted separately.

Meanwhile, the government approved a 50 per cent reduction in the reserve price of CDMA spectrum for the auction to be scheduled in March. In the previous auction, reserve price for CDMA spectrum was 11 times higher than the amount telecom operators paid in 2008. The government also slashed the base price of unsold GSM spectrum by 30 per cent, while the price of spectrum in 900 MHz has been fixed at two times the price of airwaves in 1800 MHz.

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