900MHz auction between Nov'12 to May'13: Telecom Secy

The 2G auction EGoM yesterday decided to allow telecom companies like Bharti , Vodafone and Idea to retain 2.5MHz of spectrum in 900 MHz band at the time of license renewal. Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18's Malvika Jain, Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar said that reserve price for the 900 MHz  spectrum auction may not necessarily be Rs 28,000 crore, which is twice the price of the 1,800MHz  auction.

Chandrashekhar further added that the reserve price for 900 MHz to be fixed by the EGoM and the auction will be first focusing on 1,800MHz. The 900 MHz auction is to held between November 2012 and May 2013, he informed.

Here is the edited transcript of the interview on CNBC-TV18.

Q: What will be the position of existing service providers?

A: Existing service providers who hold 900 MHz  spectrum could, if they so wish, be allowed to retain a maximum of 2.5 MHz  of spectrum in the 900 MHz  band as long as they pay the auction discovered price for 900 MHz spectrum is.

Q: The telecom companies are saying that in any case 2.5 MHz  is as good as nothing because they will need more spectrum and however much we might say that it is going to ensure continuity of operations. According to them their operations are going to suffer invariably. Is this is a government tactic to push companies into bidding?

A: If you had just 2.5 MHz of 900 MHz  spectrum and nothing else, it is true that it may not be really very meaningful for running an entire telecom operation. In order to get optimality and to be able to use 900 MHz  spectrum and deploy modern technology, an LTE, naturally an operator would have to bid for more spectrum of 2.5 MHz , even an existing operator.

Q: When are these auctions likely to begin at least for the 900 MHz? Will the first phase of auction be somewhere in June 2013 or could it be later than that?

A: The first licenses are coming up for renewal in November 2014 and therefore, the implication is that the 900 MHz  auction should take place somewhere between November 2012 and May 2013.