Decision on 2G pricing, M&A norms next week, says panel

The Telecom Commission has put off a decision on spectrum pricing for 2G services and framing guidelines for mergers and acquisitions by a week, as its meeting on Monday proved inconclusive.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has suggested some measures on these issues. The commission, which has to take a final stand on these recommendations, will meet again later this week.

"The issues discussed today include M&A, spectrum pricing and priority of allocation of spectrum. No final decision has been taken and the commission will again meet on 1 December for half a day" to consider the TRAI proposals, Telecom Commission chairman R Chandrashekhar told newspersons after the meeting in New Delhi.

If there is still no conclusion at that time, another meet will be called a day or two later for a final decision, he added.

The panel has to take a decision on issues including pricing of spectrum, rollout obligations, M&A rules and spectrum sharing. An internal committee of the department of telecommunications (DoT) has already accepted the formula suggested by TRAI for pricing 2G spectrum.

The DoT committee has however rejected other proposals, including those related to changing rollout norms, reducing licence fee to 6 per cent and relaxing M&A norms. The committee's views have been sent to the Telecom Commission.