The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will take a final call on the pricing of excess 2G spectrum held by telecom firms, based on the recommendations of the telecom regulator, by the end of June.
“A decision on the pricing of 2G spectrum is expected in the next three months. The internal committee of DoT has already submitted its report. The matter will now be taken to the full Telecom Commission, which will take a final decision,” DoT Secretary R Chandrasekhar said.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended a price of Rs 1,769 crore per MHz up to 6.2 MHz and Rs 4,571.8 crore per MHz beyond 6.2 MHz of spectrum. This had raised concerns amongst telecom operators as they will have to shell out a huge amount of money, if Trai’s views are accepted by DoT.
The department had set up an internal committee to study Trai’s suggestions on the pricing of spectrum and other issues.
DoT was also in the process of formulating the new telecom policy, 2011, expected to be finalised in this calendar year, Chandrasekhar added.
On the cancellation of licence of Etisalat DB, he said, “No decision on cancellation of licences of Swan (now Etisalat DB) has been taken so far, any decision will be taken by the end of April only.”
The government had sent a show-cause notice to Etisalat DB asking it to explain why its licences in Delhi and Mumbai circles should not be cancelled for missing rollout obligations, besides serving a notice to Idea Cellular for the Punjab circle.