A Department of Telecom panel has suggested a base price of Rs.3,646 crore per Mhz for the auction of CDMA spectrum, 17 per cent higher than what the regulator TRAI has recommended.
Also, the price suggested by an internal panel of DoT is almost equivalent to that of premium 900 Mhz band, which is considered more efficient than other GSM frequency bands.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last month recommended a base price of Rs.3,104 crore per megahertz, which was already 15 per higher than the price that the regulator suggested in February this year. “The DoT committee has agreed to the view of TRAI that rise in demand of data services and projected subscribers’ growth cannot be ignored. The committee has applied a factor of 0.8 on TRAI suggested value that gives reserve price of Rs.3,646 crore per Mhz on pan-India basis,” an official source said.
The views of the committee are likely to be placed before the inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission, which is scheduled to meet on December 8.
