1. Home
  2. India
  3. 2G auction base price fixed at Rs 14,000 crore

2G auction base price fixed at Rs 14,000 crore

August 4, 2012

2g

Mumbai, August 4: The government on Friday fixed Rs 14,000 crore as minimum price or base price for the much-awaited auctioning of the 2G spectrum.

“The Cabinet approved the reserve price of Rs 14,000 crore for 5 MHz pan India in 1800 MHz band. The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of Empowered Group of Ministers for reserve price for 800 MHz band at 1.3 times that of 1800 MHz band. This translates into Rs 18,200 crore for pan-India spectrum, “ Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

GSM-based mobile carriers operate in 1800 MHz band airwaves while CDMA-based operators use 800 MHz band. Reacting to the decision, old telecom players said high price would hit the industry hard and said the tariff would go up by Rs 30 paise per minute.

Defending the decision, Sibal said the Cabinet arrived at the decision after considering all aspects including maximum revenue to the government and also protection of the industry.

Now the Department of Telecom will appoint the auctioneer who will start the auction with minimum base price fixed by the government.

The price approved was 22 per cent lower than Rs 18,000 crore, the minimum rate suggested by sector regulator, Trai. It was, however, seven times higher than the price new companies had paid in 2008 to get spectrum when A Raja was telecom minister.

The Cabinet also approved annual fee on spectrum, called spectrum usage charges, at the existing rate which varies between 3 to 8 per cent of revenues earned by companies.

Asked if the government would be able to meet the August 31 deadline mandated by the apex court for auctioning of the spectrum freed from its order cancelling licences of 122 operators, Sibal said the EGoM is likely to meet on Monday.

"Existing slab rate system for Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC), as recommended by EGoM, as the preferred option has also been approved by the Cabinet," he added.

It may be noted that Empowered Group of Ministers had earlier recommended a reserve price at Rs 14,000-15,000 crore for 5 Mhz of airwaves as against around Rs 18,000 crore recommended by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Though the industry experts expect that with Rs 14,000 crore for pan India licence, the government may rake up over Rs 2.5 lakh crore after completing the auction, Sibal refuse to speculate any thing in this regard.

The apex court while cancelling 122 licences allotted by former telecom minister A Raja, had asked the government to re-auction the spectrum before August 31.

The reserve price may not cheer industry who have been demanding 80 per cent cut in the minimum price suggested by the TRAI. The industry lobby felt that fixing maximum reserve price would trigger increase in mobile tariff while the TRAI dismissed the fear.


Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
August 7,2020

Idukki, Aug 7: Several people lost their lives and dozens of tea estate workers are feared trapped under soil in Kerala’s Munnar after torrential rains triggered a massive landslide on today. 

As many as five bodies have been recovered and rescue workers are fighting inclement weather to remove the debris.

According to rescue workers, four lanes of quarters and a church are buried under mud and around 80 people are feared trapped.

Seven people have been rescued so far and shifted to the hospital.

Sources said a portion of Pettimudi came crashing down on the workers colony with a deafening roar in the wee hours of Friday.

As people were sleeping in the quarters, there was little time to escape.

Further, with the Periyavara bridge being washed away, it became all the more difficult for rescue workers to reach the spot.

The construction of a new temporary Periyavara bridge however, is underway.

The bridge was previously destructed during the deluge of August 2018. Later during the north west monsoons and the south west monsoon of 2019, it suffered damage again.

The present bridge, which got damaged on Thursday after Kannimala river levels rose, was constructed under the leadership of Coir fed.

Although a new concrete bridge has been constructed near the temporary bridge in Periyavara, vehicle  movement has not been possible because the authorities are yet to build its approach via road.

The new bridge is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.75 crore from Devikulam MLA S Rajendran's fund.

The entire area has been cut off from outside world and communication networks have also crashed.

Teams of Fire and Rescue personnel, NDRF, revenue officials, estate workers and police are struggling to conduct rescue operations.

Meanwhile, District collector H Dhineshan said a team of rescue personnel was sent to Pettymudy after he was briefed about the mishap and search operations to locate and rescue people are underway.

Facilities have been arranged at the hospitals nearby to provide necessary treatment facilities to the people being rescued.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 15,2020

Mumbai, Jan 15: Michael Debabrata Patra took over as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday.

He was an Executive Director of India's central bank before being elevated to the post of Deputy Governor.

An RBI release said that as Deputy Governor, Patra will look after Monetary Policy Department including Forecasting and Modelling Unit (MPD/MU), Financial Markets Operations Department (FMOD), Financial Markets Regulation Department.

He will also look after Market Intelligence (FMRD/MI), International Department (Intl. D), Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), Department of Statistics and Information Management (including Data and Information Management Unit) (DSIM/DIMU), Corporate Strategy and Budget Department (CSBD) and Financial Stability Unit.

Patra, a career central banker since 1985, has worked in various positions in the Reserve Bank of India.

As Executive Director, he was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of RBI, which is invested with the responsibility of monetary policy decision making in India. He will continue to be an ex-officio member of the MPC as Deputy Governor.

Prior to this, he was Principal Adviser of the Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India between July 2012 and October 2014.

He has worked in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Senior Adviser to Executive Director (India) during December 2008 to June 2012, when he actively engaged in the work of the IMF's Executive Board through the period of the global financial crisis and the ongoing Euro area sovereign debt crisis.

The release said that his book "The Global Economic Crisis through an Indian Looking Glass" vividly captures this experience.

He has also published papers in the areas of inflation, monetary policy, international trade and finance, including exchange rates and the balance of payments.

A fellow of the Harvard University where he undertook post-doctoral research in the area of financial stability, he has a PhD in Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.

He will hold the post for three years or until further orders. The post fell vacant after Viral Acharya resigned on July 23 last year.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 19,2020

New Delhi, Apr 19: The government on Sunday prohibited the sale of non-essential items through e-commerce platforms during the ongoing lockdown, four days after allowing such companies to sale mobile phones, refrigerators and ready-made garments.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued an order excluding the non-essential items from sale by the e-commerce companies from the consolidated revised guidelines, which listed the exemption given to the services and people from the purview of the lockdown.

The order said the following clause "E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions" is excluded from the guidelines.

The previous order had said such items were allowed for sale through e-commerce platforms from April 20.

However, the reason for reversing the order is not known immediately.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.