With the tussle between telecom players and Government heating up over the auction of spectrum set to take place next week, a senior telecom player said that the minimum bid price of Rs 14,000 crore was too high.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum on India, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bharti Enterprises, said that while the auction process was a good option, it was important that the reserve price was not set too high. He said given the high reserve price, the auction could end on the first day itself.
The minimum bid price of Rs 14,000 crore was almost seven times higher than earlier.
“The Government needs to balance the needs of the society,” he said, adding that the telecom sector, in the last 10-15 years, had one of the widest and most affordable networks.
However, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Minister of State for Power, said, “We need to achieve scale in India … Until you achieve a certain scale, we need some policies that can be changed after we have achieved (the desired) scale.”
He said the end customers must get the lowest tariff.
Mittal also stressed on the need for vital legislations to be passed by the Government. He said it was in the interest of all stakeholders that legislations pertaining to land policy, Goods and Service Tax and natural resources, among others, see the light of the day.