Govt hopes to raise Rs 20,000 cr from 2G spectrum auction

The Government said on 14 December 2012 it expects to raise around Rs 20,000 crore from the 2G spectrum auction and it is hopeful of completing the auction before March.

“We would expect approximately Rs 20,000 crore for the 1,800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum band that is put on the auction block. For 1,800 MHz, it would be approximately the base price of Rs 5,000 crore for 5 MHz,” Telecom Secretary R. Chandrashekhar told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event in New Delhi.

He said two such blocks have been put for auction and for 900 MHz, it would be twice the price of that for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The Government also plans to sell 900 MHz band airwaves in a separate but simultaneous auction.

In the last 2G auction held in November, no bidding took place in four circles — Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan.

The reserve price for last month’s sale per block in Delhi was fixed at Rs 693.06 crore, Rs 678.45 crore for Mumbai and for Karnataka and Rajasthan, it was fixed at Rs 330.12 crore and Rs 67.08 crore, respectively.

The Government managed to garner Rs 9,407.64 crore from the last 2G spectrum auction against expected target of Rs 28,000 crore. The auction lasted for two days. Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Thursday had approved 30 per cent cut in the reserve price of the airwaves in these four circles.

The payment will be on the basis of the applicable quantum of spectrum, till such time as auction determined price becomes available.

After the auction price becomes available, the earlier payment made on the basis of reserve price would be adjusted against the amount actually due, it said.

The Cabinet added that the decisions are expected to result in further efficient utilisation of the scarce natural resource of spectrum facilitating proliferation of telecom services in the country.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/broadband-and-iptv-news/item/185-govt-hopes-to-raise-rs-20000-cr-from-2g-spectrum-auction.html