 "Idea buys Videocon's spectrum for Rs 3,310 cr")
Government is likely to conduct next round of spectrum auction around May-June period this year, a top official said today.
"We will put all available spectrum for auction in which ecosystem is available that industry is demanding. The auctions will be held sometime in May June," Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg said at FICCI-WBA Vision Forum.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has put out a consultation paper on a reference made by the government to suggest the base or floor price for all available airwaves for mobile services.
The government has pegged revenue from communication services for the current fiscal at Rs 42,865 crore including upfront realisation from spectrum sale and licence fee.
Garg said the government has given prime importance to Digital India project and expanding connectivity across India.
He said the Telecom Ministry will place BharatNet programme before Cabinet for approval.
The programme envisages use of all technology available for broadband network to connect all village panchayats with an outlay of about Rs 72,000 crore.
The government has set a target to connect 2.5 lakh village panchayat with optical fibre network for high speed broadband service by end of 2016.
Garg, however, said that connectivity to the panchayats is expected to get completed by 2018.
"The duct to lay optical fibre has reached about 45,000 village panchayats, around 37,000 have been connected with optical fibre," Garg said.
He said the government is not happy with the pace of the project and is working on to resolve the problems.
Garg said the government is open for all kind of technical solutions and idea that does not have any adverse effect on public and national security.
"Government has given permission for testing TV white space for broadband service. It is being tested in 3-4 places. If results of tests are successful, we will see how we can translate it in to reality," he said.
IT major Microsoft has been advocating for use of white space technology for broadband services. Similarly, he said the government is working for Google's Loon project technology to deliver wireless broadband using balloon at 18-20 km height.
"Our (Telecom) Minister has been trying very hard. He has said we should be open for experimentation. This includes consultation with other ministries," Garg said. The Loon project is learnt to have hit a hurdle, with a committee examining it.
Google wants to experiment its Loon project in premium spectrum bands of 700 Mhz or 800 Mhz. However, the committee under IT secretary JS Deepak has asked the company to reconsider its request for these premium bands because of availability issues.
