The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) is expected to take a call on drawing up the final policy and guidelines for the auction of 3G and WiMAX spectrum at its second meeting on August 20.

According to sources directly involved with the process, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has consciously set the date to ensure that all Cabinet ministers are present at the meeting as they would also be attending the Cabinet meeting scheduled on that day.

The EGoM will not be possible to take a final call on the matter in the absence of any member.

During its last meeting July 31, in which the department of telecommunications made an elaborate presentation outlining the possible alternatives for auction, two key eGoM members ? defence minister A K Antony and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia ? were not present.

Apart from Mukherjee, Antony and Ahluwalia, the other members of the EGoM are agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, IT and communications minister A Raja, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni, law minister Veerappa Moily, home minister P Chidambram and science and technology minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Sources said the finance minister had been meeting the members of the eGoM independently in order to reach a consensus on the final modalities of the 3G spectrum auction. ?There is a sense of huge urgency on the part of the government. The finance minister opened his remarks in the first EGoM meeting explaining the sense of urgency,? an official present during the meeting said.

The DoT has put forward three auction options before the EGoM. According to the first one, four blocks of 5 Mhz of 3G spectrum be auctioned to private players. This would be apart from the one slot that has already been given to BSNL/MTNL. The second option entails that all the available spectrum be auctioned to telecom operators in blocks of 5 Mhz, which would mean more number of operators getting the spectrum for respective circles. The third option is that all the available spectrum be auctioned but only to four players in each circle.

The DoT and the finance ministry officials are of the view that the first option of 4+1 slot is the best suited to the government as not only would it maximise state revenue but also ensure that spectrum is divided efficiently. This scenario ensures that demand is more than supply thereby creating a scenario where auction would fetch market-determined price.

Options before EGOM

•The first option is four blocks of 5 Mhz of 3G spectrum be auctioned to private players. This will be apart from the one slot that has already been given to BSNL/MTNL

• The second option entails that all the available spectrum be auctioned to telecom operators in blocks of 5 Mhz, which would mean more number of operators getting the spectrum for respective circles

• The third option is that all the available spectrum be auctioned but only to four players in each circle