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Final allocation of the spectrum sold is the immediate task before Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Telecom and Information Technology. Prasad told BusinessLine that before going ahead with the next round of auctions, it is important to get a holistic view of the spectrum available. For this, he said his Ministry will review the availability of spectrum and usage across sectors, including Defence, FM Radio, and Information & Broadcasting. On the issue of tariff hike post the auctions, Prasad said he expects a miniscule increase.
The Minister said that India is a thriving market and makes lot of commercial sense for the operators. Stating that the recently concluded auctions have belied many of the misgivings about the sale process, he said there was no shortage of spectrum.
The argument that many players kept away from the auctions because on offer were mainly those spectrum bands which were up for renewal has also been proved wrong. “We offered 470 MHz for auction, of which only 170 MHz was for renewal,” he said.
Finally, dismissing allegations that the Centre had not put enough spectrum in the 2100 MHz band for auction, the Minister said that 15 MHz remained unsold.
The operators had been clamouring for the entire spectrum available in this band to be put on sale.
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