NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the huge revenue generated by the e-auctioning of 3G even as it continues to battle the after-shocks of 2G spectrum, the Government hopes to auction the spectrum for the fourth generation (4G) mobile services by the end of this year.
Furthermore, the Government will work towards finalising plans to sell off radio waves for the 2G services.
This was stated by Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
“That is what our intent is. We have enough spectrum now to share with everybody,” he said at the India Day function organised by his Ministry as part of the Congress.
Sibal said the government will have enough radio waves for all operators after it is released from the defence services, as well as the cancellation of 122 2G new licences by the Supreme Court in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
Sibal said the government did not want to put all the spectrum for auction at one go but the final decision would depend on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). “The idea being that we should come up with enough spectrum to get reasonable price for ourselves,” he said.
“When that auction will take place is something that we have to work out. The procedures are laborious, the procedures are complex,” he said. He added that the procedure for holding spectrum auctions should be very transparent.
