Cabinet finalises reserve prices for upcoming 2G airwave auction

New Delhi, Jan 5:

The cabinet Monday approved the proposal of the Department of Telecom (DoT) to proceed with auction in 800, 900 & 1800 (mega hertz) MHz bands and finalised its reserve prices, an official statement said here.

“The reserve price approved is Rs.3,646 crore pan-India per MHZ in 800 MHz, Rs.3,980 crore for 900 MHz band pan India excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Jammu and Kashmir; Rs.2,191 crore pan India (excluding Maharashtra and West Bengal) in 1800 MHz band,” the statement said.

The quantum of spectrum to be put to auction is 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band in all service areas, 177.8 MHz in 17 licence service area (LSA) in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 15 LSAs in 1800 MHz band. Thus a total of 380.75 MHz in 800, 900 and 1800 MHz is being put to auction, it added.

“The estimated revenues from this auction are Rs.64,840 crore (excluding 2100 MHz spectrum) of which Rs.16,000 crore is expected to be realized in the current financial year,” the statement said.

The auction is due in February. The revenue target from spectrum auction set by the government in the 2014-15 budget is Rs.45,471 crore.

The DoT has selected Kolkata-based mjunction services for conducting the upcoming spectrum auction.

In December 2015, seven licences each of Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications, four licences of Bharti Airtel and six licences of Vodafone will complete their 20-year term after which they have to be renewed.

“Payment terms, eligibility criteria and auction objectives shall be as in the previous auction of February 2014,” the statement said.

In February 2014, in a 10-day auction of 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz, the government mopped up Rs.61,162 crore.

Regarding auction of 2100 MHz or 3G spectrum, the statement said: “Cabinet also decided that intent to put 2100 MHz to simultaneous auction may be announced along with auction of other bands. Details of this will be announced later on.” (IANS)