"We will be announcing the policy for 3G and WiMax broadband services very soon," said Communications and IT Minister A Raja.
He, however, did not give any time frame, but officials said that since changes suggested by the sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had already been incorporated, the policy should be made public within a week or two.
Trai had, on July 11, recommended a minimum price of Rs 60 crore to acquire spectrum through auction for offering 3G and wireless broadband services in metro cities.
The regulator had said that besides reserve price, the operator would have to give a performance bank guarantee based on the circle.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sources said that foreign players would be allowed to participate in the auctioning of 3G spectrum and new licences would be issued to successful foreign players.
The government is hoping to garner up to Rs 40,000 crore through auctioning of 3G spectrum (radio frequency) and all the existing telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular, and new players are expected to participate in auction along with foreign players.
According to officials, the financial bids for spectrum would be invited by the end of next month and the process is likely to be completed by October this year enabling the players to start rolling out networks by the end of the year.
Asked how many players are likely to be issued 3G licences, the officials said that it would depend on the availability of spectrum with the government.
Senior officials said that the DoT was also talking to the defence ministry for vacating spectrum and would decide on number of licences to be issued.
