The Indian government has finally outlined the details for its forthcoming 3G license allocations in a move which could see up to ten 3G operators in the country. Speaking at a press conference, India's Communications and Information Technology Minister Andimuthu Raja said that the licenses would be sold through a global auction.
There will be between three and five licenses awarded initially and a further five allocated at a future date. Two licenses have been reserved for the state controlled operators, BSNL and MTNL, both of whom will get their licenses immediately, with the auctions for the initial licenses due within a couple of months. Both of the state owned enterprises will be required to pay a license fee which is equivalent to the highest price paid in the auction.
BSNL says that it expects to launch 3G services within six months.
The Department of Telecommunications has also fixed the reserve price for the licenses at Rs 160 crore (US$37.6 million) for metros and category A circles, Rs 80 crore (US$18.8 million) for category B, and Rs 30 crore (US$7 million) for C circles. The reserve price for a pan-India license is Rs 2,020 crore (US$475 million).
India is divided into 22 major telecommunications circles based on geography.
The prices are significantly higher than the Rs 1,035 crore ($250 million) reserve price for 5 MHz of 3G spectrum which was being touted earlier this year. An internal notice within the Department of Telecom leaked to the media in April noted that "in a circle with seven operators keen to bid for 3G spectrum blocks in the 2.1 GHz band, the reserve price ought to be, at least, Rs 100 crore per 5 MHz block of spectrum." If Rs 100 crore were to be taken as the base price in all 22 circles, the reserve price will be Rs 2,200 crore, only slightly higher than the reserve price which has been announced today.
India has 60 MHz of 3G spectrum available, and will allow both WCDMA and CDMA based 3G services.
The government also confirmed that mobile number portability in Metro and A circles will be introduced from the middle of next year.
Posted to the site on 1st August 2008
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/32798.php