Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday said there will be no change in the earlier recommended price for the 2100 megahertz (MHz) band or 3G spectrum.
TRAI was responding to the Telecom Commission that recently sought clarification on the methodology of arriving at this base price.
Telecom regulator on December 31 had recommended a base price of Rs 2,720 crore per megahertz for 2100 Mhz band as against pan-India reserve price of Rs 3,500 crore per MHz in the 2010 auction of 3G spectrum.
TRAI in a statement suggested that sufficient spectrum should be available in the 2100 megahertz (MHz) band otherwise the auction’s purpose will be defeated.
“There is no change in the reserve prices for spectrum in the 2100 MHz bands from what we recommended earlier,” said TRAI said in a statement.
“The whole purpose of clubbing the 2100 MHz band spectrum along with spectrum of other bands for auction in February 2015 will be defeated if sufficient spectrum is not made available in the 2100 MHz band,” TRAI added.
The regulator said that in the upcoming auction of 2100 MHz band spectrum, an auction-specific cap should be placed that no bidder would be permitted to bid for more than two blocks in a licence service area (LSA) if three-four blocks are available in that LSA.
