Raja-Trai disconnect on 2G auction

NEW DELHI: Even as there’s a buzz that the government may mandate the auction route for allocation of 2G spectrum to telecom operators, communications minister Andimuthu Raja on Tuesday said that “there’s no such intention”.

At a recently organised open house by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the licensing norms, the auctioning of spectrum for 2G services had emerged as a strong possibility.

Trai chairman Nripendra Misra had pointed out that 2G spectrum auction was indeed among the concrete points that had evolved during the open house.

At present, 2G spectrum allocation is based on subscriber criteria and there’s no price-tag attached to it. But the Tata group and HFCL had stressed the need for putting a price to 2G spectrum or auctioning it beyond a certain quota.

For 3G spectrum, there is currently an auction proposal.

A senior official in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) pointed out that no decision had been taken yet on whether 2G spectrum would be auctioned or not.

Meanwhile, for the National Frequency Allocation Plan, the government has decided to hold consultation with players before finalising anything.

Industry has time till August 31 to send its comments to the Wireless & Planning Coordination wing under DoT.