The Cabinet on Thursday approved cutting the base price for sale of spectrum in four circles that remained unsold in the last spectrum auction held in November.
The reserve price for 1800 MHz band in the service areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka and Rajasthan will be reduced by 30 per cent from the previous reserve price as approved by the Cabinet in the meeting held on August 3, a Government release said.
It also approved the proposal that the reserve price for 900 MHz spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai be twice the new reserve price for the 1800 MHz band and the reserve price for 900 MHz spectrum in Kolkata be twice the price obtained for the 1800 MHz band for this service area in the auction held in November.
As regards the payment for spectrum currently held in 1800 and 900 MHz bands by existing operators in these four areas where the auction determined price is not available, the Cabinet decided that such operators will be charged at the revised reserve price.
The payment will be on the basis of the applicable quantum of spectrum, till such time the auction determined price becomes available. After the auction price is available, the earlier payment made on the basis of reserve price would be adjusted against the amount actually due, it said. The Cabinet said the decisions are expected to result in efficient utilisation of the scarce natural resource of spectrum, facilitating proliferation of telecom services in the country.
The reserve price for last month’s sale per block in Delhi was fixed at Rs 693.06 crore, Mumbai Rs 678.45 crore and for Karnataka and Rajasthan, it was fixed at Rs 330.12 crore and Rs 67.08 crore, respectively.
The Government managed to garner Rs 9,407.64 crore from the last 2G spectrum auction, against the target of Rs 28,000 crore. The auction lasted two days.