Idea's bid in 2G auction to depend on pricing: Birla

Times are tough for telecom sector, admits Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, adding he is still to decide whether his telecom company Idea Cellular  will participate in the upcoming 2G auctions.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has invited bids for 2G spectrum auction on November 12 and has also announced that operators who lost licenses post the Supreme Court (SC) verdict in 2G case will be treated as new bidders. DoT has further issued guidelines for the auction process that will require the operator to pay one time, non-refundable entry fee of Rs 1 crore. It has also put forth that a 100% foreign owned entity can also bid and that bidders cannot meet rollout norms via intra circle roaming pacts.

Birla says Idea Cellular's participation in the auction will depend on the pricing. "The telecom sector has seen upheavals on the regulatory front," he told CNBC-TV18 in an interview.

Showering praises on the government's new found love for reforms, Birla said, it will be good to have foreign direct investment in other sectors like infrastructure and insurance. "I think FDI in retail is a step in the right direction," he said.