Spectrum auction postponed by 20 days, now scheduled for June 25: DoT

This is the second rescheduling of the auction, after it was pushed back from May 20 to June 6

The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday postponed the spectrum auction by 19 days to June 25. This is the second rescheduling of the auction, after it was pushed from May 20 to June 6.

While no official reason was cited, the move is expected to give the new, incoming government more time.

The government plans to auction eight spectrum bands. On February 8, the Union Cabinet had approved the auction of 10,523.15 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum across bands at a reserve price of Rs 96,317 crore.

All unsold spectrums from the last sale will be up for bidding again. Airwaves in the 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300, 2500, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands, covering a large chunk of voice and data spectrum, are up for sale.

 

The latest decision has been necessitated by the fractured electoral mandate, officials said on condition of anonymity.

No single political party touched the halfway 272 mark in the Lok Sabha as of the time of writing this report.