Speaking on the sidelines of India Telecom summit organized by industry chamber Ficci, Farooqui said he expected the 2G auctions to happen in January. "In about 15-20 days time from now, we will be issuing the NIA," Farooqui said, adding that 403 MHz spectrum will be put up for sale in the 1800 MHz band and 45 Mhz in the 900 MHz band.
Asked whether he expected any movement in the sale of 3G airwaves, he said there were no immediate plans. "While we are working on it, there are not many chances for 3G auctions to occur in January."
The government expects to earn up to Rs 40,000 crore from the 2G spectrum auctions.
Asked about the auction in the 800 MHz band, used by CDMA service operators, Farooqui said DoT will write to sector regulator Trai, asking for fresh recommendations on the matter. "The department of telecom will write to Trai this week and the process will then be taken forward," he said, refusing to give any timeline for the CDMA auction.
"The timeline, I cannot predict ... Once we have the reply from Trai, we have to examine it, after which it will to go to the telecom commission and the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) and so on ... I don't want to make a commitment about the timeline." he added.
Trai had not recommended a reserve price for the 800 MHz band and asked DoT to explore the feasibility of an extended-GSM band for this frequency.
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