Telecom Lead India: In order to discuss the one-time
spectrum fee alongside final recommendations on minimum price for
airwaves, the Empowered Group of Ministers on Telecom is scheduled to meet on
Tuesday, 24 July.
On Tuesday, the EGoM will decide final
recommendations on minimum price for spectrum that is to be auctioned following
the Supreme Court’s cancelling of 122 licenses in the 2G spectrum allocation
case.
EGoM has been dealing with controversial issues like
reserve price, spectrum usage charge and terms of payment to the Union Cabinet.
Telecom EGoM recommends lower reserve price for spectrum
In a previous meeting held on June 20, the EGoM set the
reserve price for telecom spectrum auction in the range of Rs14, 000-Rs 16,000
crore, as per sources.
The new reserve price is lower than the TRAI’s
recommendation of a base price of Rs 3,622 crore per Mhz, or about Rs 18,000
crore in all.
However, the difference in price is not considerable and
the EGoM verdict will affect all telecom operators in India if the Cabinet
finally decides to accept EGoM recommendations, according to highly placed
sources.
Earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
under JS Sarma recommended a reserve price of Rs 18,000 crore for
spectrum auction. TRAI said the impact of the high price on call rates would
not be more than 4 paisa per minute.
However, the industry has been demanding around 80 per
cent reduction in the minimum price of Rs 3,622 crore recommended. The Industry
said that the call rates would go up by as much as Re 1 per minute.
