The Telecom Commission will finalise its decision on 2G spectrum pricing and guidelines for Mergers & Acquisition within a week. The panel met today to discuss these crucial policies but did not take a final view.
“We have not taken any final decision,” Mr R. Chandrashekhar, Chairman, Telecom Commission, said after the meeting. The commission will meet again on December 1 to consider the proposals.
The panel has to take a decision on important issues, including pricing spectrum, roll out obligation, M&A rules and spectrum sharing. The Department of Telecom's internal committee has already accepted the formula suggested by the telecom regulator for pricing 2G spectrum.
The committee has, however, rejected other proposals including those related to changing the roll out obligation norms, reducing licence fee to 6 per cent and relaxing mergers and acquisition norms. The committee's views have been sent to the Telecom Commission.
The telecom regulator had proposed to fix Rs 4,571 crore per Mhz for all spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz. The DoT panel has accepted this and said that the one-time fee will be calculated on a pro rata basis from May 27, 2008, till the remaining period of the licence. But the committee has not accepted TRAI's proposal to impose a uniform licence fee of 6 per cent of the annual revenues.
The panel has proposed a uniform fee of 8 per cent, which is lower than the 8.5 per cent suggested by an earlier committee.