Panel may back Trai’s 2G auction price
NEW DELHI: The telecom department has dismissed suggestions from commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma that the reserve price for auctioning 2G spectrum suggested by the telecom regulator was too high. It said the recommendation was in line with what some operators had paid to acquire stake in companies that benefited from former minister A Raja’s largesse as also the 3G auctions.
The statement also suggests that the department is not opposed to Trai’s formulations of a 10-fold jump in the reserve price to over Rs 18,000 per mega Hertz (MHz) in the 1,800 MHz band. In 2008, Raja had gifted spectrum with licence for Rs 1,651 crore, a price which had been discovered sever years earlier in 2001. The Telecom Commission, the inter-ministerial panel, is scheduled to decide on the reserve price and the payment modalities for the spectrum on Saturday.
A source said there was already an in-principle… Continue reading
Telecom regulator Trai sticks to its stance on 2G auctions
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has stuck to its formula for auctioning 2G spectrum to new players as also to shifting existing players to a new frequency at market-determined price.
In his reply to the government, JS Sarma, the outgoing telecom regulator, on Sunday is learnt to have made only three “exceptions” from his earlier recommendations, which have been lambasted by the telecom players.
The report is due to be made public later on Sunday.
One, Trai has suggested that in states where sufficient amount of spectrum is not available in the 800 mega hertz (MHz) frequency, the government could consider lowering the reserve price from two times that of airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band to 1.3 times. This means, instead of paying Rs 36,000 crore… Continue reading
Sistema Shyam files curative petition in 2G case
While dismissing the review petitions of SSTL and six other telecom companies, the apex court had… Continue reading
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