3G auctions to be on schedule, says EGoM

Uncertainty over auctions of 3G or third generation telecom services ended on Thursday, with the empowered group of ministers deciding to stick to the January 14 date with a slight modification.

Instead of the original plan of auctioning four 3G licences per circle, bundled with 5 MHzs of spectrum per licence, the schedule will depend on spectrum availability in each circle.

Spectrum is the radio frequencies that allow mobile communication. So far, there is enough spectrum for only two licences in Delhi and Gujarat, three each in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, one in West Bengal and none in Rajasthan and the northeast. All other circles have sufficient spectrum to sustain four operators each.

Thursday's agreement was reached after the Ministry of Defence finally agreed to stick to a signed commitment to DoT to release 20 MHz of 3G spectrum on time, a minister who attended the meeting confirmed.

Questions over delays in 3G auctions arose in October, after the defence services said they would not be in a position to release spectrum within the promised schedule.

The EGoM was called to resolve the issue on Thursday. The EGoM, which is headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was also attended by Communications Minister A Raja, Defence Minister A K Antony and Home Minister P Chidambaram, among others.

Differences between Department of Telecommunications and the Ministry of Defence on spectrum availability, as well as between DoT and the finance ministry on the base price for the auction, have already caused over a year's delay. 3G auctions were originally scheduled for December 2008.

The defence ministry said the latest delay was caused by the fact that the services needed more time to test an alternative fibre optic network being set up for them by state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

The defence ministry also claimed it had vacated 10 MHz of 3G spectrum that DoT had not included in an information memorandum issued to prospective bidders.

DoT, on its part, claimed that the spectrum in question already belonged to DoT and had been given to BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd to roll out their 3G services. BSNL and MTNL were given permission to launch 3G services last year.