The auction for 2G and 3G telecom spectrum will be deferred to March 4 from February 25 said Department of Telecommunications (DoT) today. Earlier, it was scheduled on February 25 for 2G and 3G networks , according to notification issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT).The last date for submission of applications is February 6, according to the timeline mentioned in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA).
"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," earlier official statement said.
A pre-bid conference will be held on February 13, while the names of pre-qualified bidders would be announced on February 16. The last date of withdrawal of applications is February 18, while final list of bidders will come on February 20, had said.
The estimated revenues from this auction, due in February, 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 (2014-15).
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 should be renewed.
The Narendra Modi government has already finalised Mjunction services, a Kolkata-based firm, for conducting spectrum auction.
Indian telecom service providers such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone, Reliance Jio Infocomm, among others, are likely to participate in the 2G and 3G spectrum auction.
The total spectrum put to auction is 103.75 MHz in 800 MHz band, 177.8 MHz in 900 MHz band and 99.2 MHz in 1800 MHz band — a total of 380.75 MHz in 800, 900 and 1800 MHz. It will also put on sale 5 MHz in the 2100 MHz band, which is used for 3G services in 17 out of 22 telecom areas.
But the government is yet to fix the reserve price for 2100 MHz. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) December 31 had recommended a base price of Rs.2,720 crore per megahertz for 2100 Mhz band as against pan-India reserve price of Rs.3,500 crore per MHz in the 2010 auction of 3G spectrum.
