New Delhi: The Telecom Commission has recommended raising the reserve price for the auction of pan-India mobile phone spectrum, which is 15 per cent more than the one suggested by TRAI, and 25 per cent higher in case of key circles like Delhi and Mumbai.
The commission, at its meeting here today, recommended to an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) that the reserve price for pan-India 1800 MHz spectrum be fixed 15 per cent higher than the TRAI suggested rates.
It said that the reserve price for 900 MHz spectrum must be fixed 25 per cent higher than what TRAI had recommended.
The rates recommended by the commission will still be lower than the previous auction price.
According to sources, the Telecom Commission has also approved the M&A policy, allowing mergers with a combined market share of up to 50 per cent. This would replace the cap of 35 per cent market share of the combined entity currently in vogue.
New base price
The new base price per mega hertz (MHz) in 1800 band for Delhi has been proposed at Rs 218.90 crore, Mumbai Rs 206.74 crore and Kolkata Rs 73.13 crore, which is 25 per cent higher than the base price recommended by TRAI.
The regulator had recommended Rs 175.12 crore for Delhi, Rs 165.39 crore for Mumbai and Rs 58.50 crore for Kolkata as the reserve price.
Similarly for 900 Mhz spectrum, the base price per MHz will be Rs 359.65 crore for Delhi, Rs 327.50 crore for Mumbai and Rs 125.27 crore for Kolkata.
TRAI had recommended Rs 287.72 crore for Delhi, Rs 262 crore for Mumbai and Rs 100.22 crore for Kolkata as the per Mhz price in 900 band.
The Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body of Department of Telecom (DoT), decided that the value of spectrum be set as the reserve price for the three metro and five category A circles. It, however, approved the base price set by TRAI for the remaining 14 circles.
As a result, the base price will be increased by about 25 per cent in the eight circles and the pan-India price will be up by 15 per cent.
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