The meeting of an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on spectrum to discuss the base price of airwaves for the third round of spectrum sale, slated to be held this month, ended indecisively.
“No decisions were taken and the auctions will be done on 11th of March. After that we will assess the situation and go back to the court and inform them as to how we will implement their orders,” telecom minister Kapil Sibal, who is member of the empowered panel of ministers on spectrum told ET. The EGoM is headed finance minister P Chidambaram.
According to the Economic Times report, the telecom department had put only 271 MHz or units of airwaves for sale in the first round in November despite the Supreme Court directed freeing 430 MHz of airwaves. The November auction turned out to be flat with the government making less than a fourth of its targeted revenue of Rs. 40,000 crore.
The third round of spectrum auction will be held after the March 11 bididng in which Sistema Shyam will be the only participant. The March 11 auction includes unsold spectrum from the November auctions in the 1800 MHz band in four circles — Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan — along with a portion of airwaves held by existing holders in the 900 MHz band.
In the meanwhile, SSTL has demanded it should be benefited form any cut in base price for airwaves in auctions.
“Our participation in the ensuing auction is with a clear understanding that the relative price band will not be disturbed. Fairness and equity warrants that in the event Government of India takes a decision to reduce the reserve price in any of the 2G bands, the benefit of the price so reduced be extended to Sistema-Shyam by way of refund, adjustment on the excessive price paid by SSTL,” the company said in a March 4 communication to the telecom department.