"Rs80 crone has been fixed as base price for two metros of Bombay and Delhi, Rs40 crore for Chennai and Kolkata and Rs15 crore for category C circles," TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra said.

This being the base price set for spectrum allocation, the telecom operators will have to bid for the spectrum over and above it. TRAI has recommended three sets of frequency bands - 450 MHz, 800 MHz and 2.1 GHz

The government, meanwhile, said it would finalise a policy for spectrum allocation in the next three months. "We are looking into the details of TRAI's recommendations and will come out with a formalised report in three months to enable faster roll-out of 3G services in the country," minister for communications and IT Dayanidhi Maran told reporters.

TRAI is maintaining technology neutrality and "since both GSM and CDMA technologies co-exist in India, we would also look into that," he added.

Trial runs for next generation 3G mobile services in the country has already been initiated and the commercial launch is expected in the second half of 2007.

At the base price of Rs80 crore alone, TRAI said the government would be able to collect a minimum of Rs1,400 crore for countrywide spectrum allocation.