Sibal, Mistry discuss spectrum issues

Tata Group chairman-designate Cyrus Mistry and Tata Teleservices MD Srinath Narasimhan today called on telecom minister Kapil Sibal amid industry chorus against sector regulator TRAI's recommendations on auction of scarce spectrum, to discuss issues facing the sector.

Mistry and Narasimhan, who were closeted with Sibal and telecom secretary R Chandrashekhar, at the minister's official residence in New Delhi for around half an hour offered no comments on the meeting, reports PTI.

Mistry had raised concerns over the proposed 2G spectrum policy with the communications and IT minister.

Telecom operators have been voicing concerns over the porposed steep hike in spectrum prices, which according to them, could push mobile phone tariffs up by as much as 100 per cent in certain circles.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed Rs3,622.18 crore for one megahertz (MHz) as base or minimum price for pan-India spectrum in 1800 MHz for auction, which is around 10 times higher than the floor price at which the former telecom minister A Raja had allocated spectrum and licences in 2008.

TRAI has further suggested that the reserve price for 800 MHz (CDMA) and 900 MHz (GSM) bands should be twice that of minimum price for 1800 MHz band (also used be GSM operators currently).