The much-awaited auction of telecom spectrum is likely to start from November, if the Supreme Court agrees, missing the August 31 deadline set by the apex court.
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the subject decided on Tuesday to approach the SC for an extension of the deadline to complete the entire process. According to the revised timeline, to be presented to the SC, for approval, the auction will begin on November 12 and the process is likely to be completed within 82 days. Successful bidders would get their airwaves by January 30, 2013.
The schedule was prepared by the department of telecommunications (DoT), along with the newly selected auctioneer, Times Internet Ltd (TIL). “(The) Auctioneer has given us a schedule...we will approach the Supreme Court (on) what the government has done. Also, place before them that in terms of this schedule, it is not possible to conduct the auction by August 31,” Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the EGoM meet.
The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, discussed the schedule DoT had prepared with TIL. Sources said the panel felt the auction required several stages of interaction with bidders after the preliminary Information Memorandum was issued and again after receipt of applications. The new schedule would leave the government and auctioneer with a little over 60 days to complete various processes before actual bidding starts — responding to queries, inviting applications and giving time for submissions, finalising eligible bidders, public information sessions and mock auction.
“Elimination of any of the steps indicated or further reduction in timelines indicated for each step could also result in legal infirmities in the process, with consequential implications,” DoT is understood to have told the EGoM.
The additional time now sought for completion of the auction process was mainly to enable the auctioneer and bidders to carry forward the auction in a proper manner. The additional time would enable it to ensure the SC directions were implemented in letter and spirit, it added.
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After cancelling 122 telecom licences in February, the SC had first asked the government to complete the re-auction by June 2. The government then asked it to extend the deadline to August 2. The Sc agreed and extended the validity of quashed licences till September 7. This would be the extension sought.
The auction is crucial for Sistema Shyam, Uninor and Videocon to be able to continue their operations.
The government last week fixed a base price of Rs 14,000 crore for auctioning pan-India spectrum and also accepted the EGoM recommendation for pricing 800 MHz spectrum at 1.3 times the rate of the 1,800 MHz band.
It had also approved an annual fee, called the spectrum usage charge, at the existing rate which varies between three and eight per cent of revenues earned by the companies, depending on the amount of spectrum they hold.