Consensus on reserve price, 3G auction soo

Finally, the long-awaited auctions of 3G spectrum, the airwaves that enable faster data download and video streaming on mobile phones, is poised to take place within two months.

The way for the auctions has been cleared on Tuesday after the finance ministry and the department of telecommunications (DoT) have buried their differences over what should be the minimum reserve price for the auctions. The two have agreed on a reserve price of Rs 3,510 crore, which is higher than Rs 2,020 crore proposed by DoT earlier and lower than Rs 4,040 crore suggested by the finance ministry.

Another significant development is that a 2% administrative charge, proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), on the successful bidders annually has been dropped.

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Advantage for Bharti, Vodafone in 3G bids

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar are at the most advantageous position for the upcoming 3G spectrum auction in the most lucrative and competitive circles of Delhi and Mumbai.

As per the schedule announced by the department of telecommunications (DoT) on Friday, 3G auctions would be held on January 15.

The Delhi and Mumbai circles have emerged as the most competitive as these two metro circles would be able to notch up the maximum subscribers in the 3G services fold, which enables faster download of data and video streaming on mobile phones.

The two circles have also emerged as the toughest because of the paucity of 3G spectrum in the 2.1 Ghz band here. For instance, Delhi has only three blocks of 5 mhz spectrum, of which one is reserved and already allocated to the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

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http://epaper.financialexpress.com/FE/FE/2008/12/15/index.shtml