www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The National Telecommunications Commission, NTC, is likely to announce the terms for the auction of 3G licences next month. Gen Choochart Promprasit, the NTC chairman, said the auction for 3G licences on the 2.1GHz spectrum should happen this year, allowing the regulator to issue licences in early 2010.
He further said that by September, terms and guidelines for the auction could be announced on the NTC’s website, allowing enough time to the operators to prepare bids.
While the operators, hit by the weak economy have lowered their investment plans until NTC announces details for the 3G auction.
On 08.31.09, In Mobile, By Editor
On 08.28.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: India has reportedly hiked the reserve price for the auction of 3G spectrum to 35 billion rupees ($715 million) from 20.20 billion rupees set last year, the telecoms minister said.
The minister further revealed that four slots in each service area would be put on block and that the auction would be conducted within three months.
On 07.23.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: National IT and Telecom Agency (NITA), Denmark, has announced a public consultation on the auction.
This spectrum will be suitable for offering 4G wireless broadband services based on standards such as LTE or WiMAX, but could also be used for other applications such as mobile TV.
205MHz of spectrum will be auctioned in total, including 190MHz in the 2.5GHz band (2500–2690MHz) and 15MHz in the 2010MHz band (2010–2025MHz).
The licencees will be enabled to install technology and offer services of their own choice. The auction is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2010. A consultation period will go on until September 15, 2009.
On 07.14.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Government of India has constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) who will auction the 3G spectrum and setting the reserve price for Broadband and Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.
The EGoM will be headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. It will have eight other members, including Home Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Defence Minister A K Antony, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Communications Minister A Raja and Information & Broadcasting Minister Ambani Soni, Minister of State (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, sources in the Department of Telecommunications said.
The EGom will be a decisive body for quantum of 3G spectrum auctioning, annual spectrum charges additional administrative charges and the reserve price for 3G and BWA spectrum among others. This body will also look into spectrum and allocation of band for Evolution Value Data Optimised (EVDO), a high-end data application service.
On 07.13.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Department of Telecom has decided to seek TRAI’s view before taking a call whether the radio waves should be auctioned to operators. A senior DoT official said the report would be sent to TRAI to give its comment on the host of suggestions that the Kumar panel has given in the report. Prominent among the recommendations is the one on whether 2G spectrum should be auctioned for both new and existing players.
For the existing players, the report suggests that spectrum be auctioned beyond 6.2 Mhz. For new players, spectrum and the licence are delinked so that for 4.4 Mhz of start-up spectrum they also have to go through auction.
2G spectrum matters only after the 3G spectrum auction issues are settled. In the interim, DoT has referred the committee report to TRAI for its views. The report calls for spectrum trading between operators with the government getting its share in such trades. This, it felt, would lead to consolidation in the telecom space with more mergers and acquisitions.
As of now, there is a freeze on spectrum allocation as no spectrum beyond the start-up 4.4 MHz is being allotted.
On 07.11.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: S-Tel, the new entrant in the Indian mobile market, may not intend to launch its mobile services in all circles, even after having won a two-year legal battle to be awarded licences for 16 of the country’s regions. S-Tel with its plans of launching services in limited regions, will make an investment of INR20 billion (USD408.4 million) on network rollouts in the North East in next 3 years. Moreover, the cellco plans to bid for a 3G licence when the auction process begins.
On 07.06.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Indian government will reportedly make a collection of $7.2Bn from the auction of third-generation (3G) radio spectrum. According to the Budget 2009-10, a sum of Rs 35,000 crore ($7.2 billion) is expected revenue from auction of 3G spectrum, says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
On 07.03.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Indian Government has reportedly said that the decision on 3G licence auction will be done in three months time. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) will take a decision in view of the difference between TRAI and DOT.
According to the Communication Minister A.Raja the issues like number of blocks of spectrum to be auctioned, reserve price for spectrum and annual administrative charge are all the issues that would be decided by the EGoM.
On 06.19.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: E-Plus, the German mobile operator, is auctioning its 100 Time & More 1000 Web Edition tariffs on Ebay’s German website. The auction will run till mid-July. The tariff offers 1,000 units that can be used for SMSs or call minutes within Germany and the minimal bid for a tariff is EUR 1 for a 2 year contract. The usual fee for the tariff is EUR 50.
On 06.15.09, In Mobile, By Editor
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Indian communications ministry is reportedly set to inform the new government that it is open to increase the reserve price for the auctions of pan-India 3G spectrum to INR 35.4 and auction up to eight slots of 3G spectrum. The reserve price for pan India 3G spectrum, according to the existing 3G policy is INR 20.2 billion , accommodating 5 players per circle. DoT plans to increase the reserve price and will ensure that finance ministry approves the hike for the upcoming 3G auction. The DoT has arrived at INR 35.4 billion by doubling the reserve price for Delhi, Mumbai and category A circles and increasing it 1.5 times for Kolkata and category B circles retaining the current base price for category C circles. The cabinet may look into the proposal within two weeks, communications and IT minister A Raja, reportedly said. If the ministry’s proposal gets green signal from the cabinet in its current format, the 3G auctions will be held within three months.