Five telecom stocks fell by 0.16% to 2.31% at 11:44 IST on BSE ahead of the likely Cabinet meet today, 3 August 2012 to discuss the reserve price and usage charges of spectrum, deferred payment options by operators and rollout obligations.
Reliance Communications (down 2.31%), Idea Cellular (down 1.47%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 1.42%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.92%) and MTNL (down 0.16%) edged lower.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 180.04 points or 1.05% at 17,044.32
The Cabinet which was scheduled to meet on Thursday, 2 August 2012 may reportedly discuss the base price for the auction of the 2G spectrum today, 3 August 2012.
Last month, the empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on telecom headed by the Home minister P Chidambaram decided that the final decision on reserve price, spectrum usage charge and terms of payment will be taken by the Cabinet.
Over the past weeks, the EGoM had decided on a reserve price range of Rs 14000 crore-Rs 15000 crore for 5 MHz of spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band. Telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had earlier recommended a reserve price of Rs 18000 crore for the same spectrum in that band. Reserve price for equivalent spectrum in the 800 MHz has been fixed at 1.3 times this amount.
The Supreme Court had cancelled 122 licences in February 2012 after allegations of favoritism and arbitrary conduct emerged in the awarding of licenses under the then telecom minister A Raja. Companies whose licenses have been cancelled can continue to operate their businesses until 7 September 2012. The apex court has mandated 31 August 2012 as the deadline for re-auctioning spectrum.
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