Our coverage of the 2G Auctions is brought to you by OnMobile Global, India's leading Mobile Value Added Services [VAS] company The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has pushed forward the date of the 2014 2G spectrum auctions in India, where 403.2 MHz of spectrum in the 1800MHz band and 46 MHz in the 900MHz band is being auctioned. The relevant dates to track are: 02 Jan: Clarifications to NIA 15 Jan: Last date for submission of Applications 20 Jan: Publication of ownership details of Applicants 23 Jan: Bidder Ownership Compliance Certificate 25 Jan: Pre-qualification of Bidders 27 Jan: Last date of Withdrawal of Applications 29 Jan: Final List of bidders 30-31 Jan: Mock Auction 03 Feb: Start of the Auction You can download the notice inviting applications here. Base Price: Union Cabinet had set a base price of Rs 1,765 crore per MHz for 1800MHz spectrum, which is about 26% lower than the previous auction. For 900MHz spectrum, it had approved a base price of Rs 360 crore per MHz for Delhi, Rs 328 crore for Mumbai and Rs 125 crore for Kolkata, which was about 53% lower than the previous auctions. The government hopes to raise Rs 48,000 crore from these auctions if it is all sold at the approved reserve price, although note that both the previous 2G spectrum auctions have largely been unsuccessful. It failed to sell any spectrum in the 1800MHz band and 900MHz band in the March 2013 auctions and sold a little more than a third of the spectrum offered in November 2012 auctions. Spectrum Available: In…
