… And The 3G Auction In India Gets Delayed Yet Again
The 3G auction appears to be jinxed. Originally scheduled for January 16, and then postponed to January 30, the auction has now been postponed pending a further date.
The original recomended reserve price had been set at Rs 80 crore for circle A (the big cities), Rs 40 crore for circle B and Rs 15 crore for circle C. However, DoT decided to double the reserve price under which an all-India licence (i.e. for all 22 circles) would cost Rs 2,020 crore. This too was approved by Trai, after which the government announced the guidelines for auction and allotment of 3G spectrum. But the story doesn’t end there.
A few weeks ago, the finance ministry suggested that the reserve price for an all-India 3G licence be raised to Rs 4,040 crore. This was based on fears that the government might be giving out valuable and scarce spectrum cheaply. The government was also apprehensive that it would not be able to achieve its target of garnering Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore from the auction.
The operators themselves are not complaining. Given the economic scenario, the market for 3G services will be a hard sell, and they would rather not block the cash. This however seems to be rather short term thinking to me.
Related posts:
- Meeting On 3G Spectrum Gets Delayed
- 3G Auctions To Start By Feb 25
- Commercial Launch Of 3G Services Draws Near
- 3G Spectrum Sale Planned For Jan 15
- Yet Another Date For The 3G Auction
Filed under: News
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