Department of Telecom is looking to commence the auction for spectrum, including in 700Mhz band, around mid-July, which may fetch the government Rs 5.4 lakh crore. “Telecom Commission is meeting on March 28. The DoT is expecting Cabinet approval on spectrum price by mid-May and issue notice for auction in June. Taking into account various processes, spectrum auction should begin around July 15,” an official source said. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has suggested a plan for spectrum sale, expected to be held in July, with a potential to fetch Rs 5.4 lakh crore. It will be the biggest-ever auction in terms of value and is more than double the gross revenue of telecom services industry. Telecom service providers had a gross revenue of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in 2014-15. The source further said apart from spectrum auction the Telecom Commission in its Monday meeting will deliberate upon half a dozen transformative norms for the industry including virtual network operators. Trai had recommended a record high base price of Rs 11,485 crore per Mhz for the 700Mhz band. If all available radiowaves under this get sold at the Trai-suggested price, it alone will yield Rs 4 lakh crore. The source said some clarifications are required on Trai’s suggestions for which it needs to be send back to the regulator.
