India sets 3G auction date for 14 January 2010
26 Oct 2009
The Indian government is set to begin the auction of third-generation (3G) radio spectrum for 71 blocks across 20 of 22 telecom zones on 14 January 2010, the telecommunications ministry said in a revised Information Memorandum on Saturday.
The auction would be carried out in four stages - invitation stage, pre-qualification, auction and grant of spectrum.
The DoT would hold a pre-bid conference on November 16 and the mock auction would be conducted three days before the original date of auction.
The last date for submitting the bid is 21 December. The list of those who are eligible to bid will be put out on 7 January.
The auction, which would introduce high-speed Internet and video downloads on mobile phones, was originally slated for January 2009 but was deferred to December after differences between the telecoms and finance ministries over the reserve price for the bids.
The base price for 3G spectrum is set at Rs350 crore, and communication minister Andimuthu Raja has said the government is expected to fetch about Rs2500 crore from the sale.
