Govt plans to auction leftover 2G spectrum before 31 March
16 Nov 2012
With Wednesday's auction of 2G radio spectrum ending in failure, the government proposes to come up with an auction of the unsold portion of spectrum for second-generation (2G) telecom services before the end of the current fiscal, minister for telecommunications Kapil Sibal said today.
The government should have raised a total of Rs17,340.64 crore by way of proceeds from the sale of 2G spectrum and a one-time fee levied on existing users.
The two-day auction saw the government raise a total of Rs9,407.64 crore in total bids and another Rs7,936 crore accruing from the one-time fee to be levied on existing telecom operators holding excess spectrum.
However, analysts say, the government might have to content with around Rs3,190 crore of the Rs9,407.64 crore in the current fiscal as only 33 per cent of the bid amount has to be paid immediately.
But, there are three operators whose cancelled licence fee was adjusted against the earnest money deposited for the auctions - Idea's Rs1,000 crore and Videocon and Telewings' (earlier Uninor) Rs1,658 crore each, which totals Rs4,300 crore.
It is then unlikely that the government would get anything by way of licence fee during the current fiscal unless some bidders decide to pay upfront and save on the 9 per cent interest.
