The empowered group of ministers on 3G spectrum auction will meet on August 27 to decide on the reserve price and number of slots of spectrum to be auctioned.
Government sources on Thursday confirmed that the EGoM would meet on August 27.
The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is likely to discuss various issues, including the amount of 3G spectrum to be auctioned, annual spectrum charges, the number of operators in each telecom circle and the reserve price for 3G and broadband wireless services, sources said.
During the last meeting, the EGoM had deliberated upon the three scenarios for fixing the reserve price for the 3G auctions -- Rs 1,010 crore (Rs 10.1 billion) suggested by Trai, Rs 2,020 crore (Rs 20.2 billion) by DoT and Rs 4,040 crore (Rs 40.4 billion) by the finance ministry.
However, no decision was taken as the members wanted to study the issues in detail but the urgency to take a decision soon was underlined.
The government constituted the EGoM on July 13 to look into matters relating to pricing of spectrum and the number of operators to be allowed in each telecom circle.
Once the EGoM takes a decision, a fresh time line for the auctions would be announced.
Other members of the EGoM are Telecom Minister A Raja, Cabinet ministers P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Veerappa Moily, Ambika Soni, Prithviraj Chavan, and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
