The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is considering selling 35 MHz of the most sought after band — 700 MHz – in the upcoming spectrum auction across 22 circles. This band is in much demand as it will enable telecom companies to offer a wide range of mobile services such as 2G, 3G and 4G.
If cleared, a total of 770 MHz in this lucrative band would be auctioned across all the circles, apart from 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz in other bands, sources close to the development told BusinessLine .
“We will submit our recommendations of the reserve pricing of each MHz next week to the Department of Telecom. If the DoT agrees to the same pricing, we may publish those on the same day or three days at the most,” an official said, adding that in case of DoT seeking any clarification on the pricing, it could take some more days to publish the reserved prices of all the airwaves.
Another official said the DoT would take its own decision, as it was examining harmonisation of some of the bands that were supposed to be freed up from Defence sector.
“We have asked the DoT to harmonise the respective bands at the earliest so that those airwaves can also be put into upcoming auction,” the official said.
However, the Telecom Ministry or the DoT is still waiting for the Defence Ministry to release 150 MHz of spectrum in 1700-2000 MHz bands that can be used for all type of mobile services.
Under the harmonisation process, all Ministries are required to identify spectrum as per their use and timeline and convey by this month when they can vacate the excess spectrum.
The DoT and the Defence Ministry had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2009 for freeing of some spectrum from the latter for commercial mobile services.
If this is done, the upcoming auction will have lucrative airwaves such as 700 MHz, which is treated as the most productive band and its sale would fetch the government a sizeable booty ahead of the Budget.
The Finance Ministry, which is mopping up revenues to meet its budgetary requirements, has been mounting pressure on the Telecom Ministry to carry out the next round of spectrum auctions on time (within this financial year).
Quantum of airwave When asked about the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, the officials said it would be ‘more than what was auctioned last year’.
The Centre had received a commitment of ₹1.10 lakh crore from the spectrum auctions last year when 380.75 MHz was put on sale across 17 out of 22 telecom circles in 900 MHz band, 1800 MHz and 800 MHz, while 5 MHz was up for bidding in the 2100 MHz band, which is used for 3G mobile services.