• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

New Delhi, March 5 The Government constituted on Thursday a Group of Ministers to decide on the issue of pricing of 3G spectrum auction and the number of players to be allowed in a circle.

The auction was earlier scheduled to be held in January but was postponed due to differences between the various Ministries over these two issues. The decision to refer the issue to a GoM was taken by the cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The GoM includes Mr Pranab Mukherjee (External Affairs), Mr Lalu Prasad (Railway), Mr Ram Vilas Paswan (Chemical and Fertilisers), Mr A. Raja (Telecom), Mr Anand Sharma (I&B), Mr Sharad Pawar (Agriculture), Mr A. K. Antony (Defence), Mr H.R. Bhardwaj (Law) and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

A Cabinet Secretariat letter said “It has accordingly been decided with the approval of the Prime Minister to constitute a Group of Ministers. The GoM will be serviced by the Department of Telecom.”

Top sources in the Communications Ministry said that there was still a chance that the auction may happen under the UPA Government. T

hey said that this would not come under the election code of conduct since the policy to auction was announced last year and it was only the specifics of the policy that were being discussed.

Earlier, Mr Raja, had said that auctions could take place even up to March 31.

In a presentation prepared on March 2, 2009, the Communications Ministry has reiterated that only 4 blocks of spectrum will be auctioned for 3G and no waiting list will be maintained.

It also said that no further auction will be conducted for the next 12 months.

However, telecom industry representatives said that it was unlikely that the 3G auctions could take place under the current Government.

They said that the GoM may have been set up purely to carry out CCEA’s decision.

The Government has not yet notified the date of the first meeting of the GoM.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Politics

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line