After an inexplicable avoidance of decision-making for almost 9 months, blaming intra-government disagreements over price for the delay, the Indian government has announced that it will auction 3G spectrum within the next 90 days. However, don't hold your breath - because there's always the possibility of some department putting a spanner in the works, despite this decision being made by empowered Group of Ministers (eGoM). (Read: How Telecom Operators In India Should Approach 3G) The base price for the 3G auction will be Rs. 3500 crores for pan-India (22 Circles) spectrum, up from Rs. 2020 crores last fiscal. As previously announced, 4 slots are being auctioned, and one slot is being reserved for government owned telecom operators (MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai, BSNL elsewhere). The individual price for Category A, B and C types of circles has not been disclosed yet. The Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) base price has been fixed at Rs. 1750 crores for a pan-India license. More on pricing and stakeholder comments at Mint. [poll id="11"] Types Of Bidders We'd be surprised if the new crop of telecom operators - the likes of MTS, Tata Docomo, S-Tel, Datacom, Etisalat DB etc bid for 3G spectrum. Unitech Wireless (Telenor) had said last year that they weren't keen on 3G spectrum in India. We believe that there will be the following types of telecom operators bidding for spectrum in India: -- The I-Need-More-Space Telcos: looking for relief in urban India where they're like a Hummer in Chandni Chowk: plagued by spectrum…
