The government on Thursday kickstarted the auction process of 3G spectrum? which is slated for April 9?with the release of the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA), the key legal document that formally invites bids from the mobile operators.
According to NIA, three private operators would be allotted 5 mhz of spectrum each in the 2.1 ghz band in 17 circles while four private operators would be allotted the same, each in the remaining five circles. State-run BSNL/MTNL, which have already been allocated spectrum, would be an additional operator in all the circles.
While successful bidders would be liable to pay the entire auction amount within 10 days of the auction, the spectrum would be allotted to all private operators by August. This means they would be in a position to offer the services by September 1 only.
According to NIA, all interested parties would have to submit their applications by March 19. The mock auction would take place on April 5 and 6 with the final GSM spectrum auction beginning on April 9.
The auction of spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) for 22 circles will start two days from the day of the close of the auction. Auction for CDMA spectrum would also begin two days after the close of GSM spectrum auctions.
The government has set the base price for 3G spectrum in metros and category A circles at Rs 320 crore, Rs 120 crore for category B circles and Rs 30 crore for category C circles.
This implies that the reserve price for a pan-India slot would amount to Rs 3,500 crore. While for the BWA spectrum a base price of Rs 160 crore has been set for the metros, for rest of the circles it ranges between Rs 15-60 crore.
Successful bidders would be under the obligation to cover at least 90% of the service area using the 3G spectrum within five years of the effective date.
NIA has also specified that if two or more licensees holding 3G spectrum blocks in a service area merge, they shall be allowed to retain only one 3G spectrum block.