2G auction: Spectrum bidders line up for battle

Leading telecom companies, including those affected by the Supreme Court's cancellation of 122 licences on February 2, have lined up for the upcoming 2G auction despite the industry's earlier warning of a tepid response owing to the high reserve price.

A pre-bid conference held by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Thursday was attended by potential bidders with multiple representatives from Mukesh Ambani's Infotel Broadband, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications (RCom), Videocon, Telenor and Sistema among others.

However, there was no representation from any foreign companies other than Norway's Telenor and Russia's Sistema, which already operate in the country. Both Telenor and Sistema have a stake worth over Rs 30,000 crore in the sector and have to win 2G spectrum to continue their services.

The participants at the pre-bid conference said that a similar kind of session will be held again on September 15-16 as most of their queries were not addressed.

"There were a lot of issues concerning eligibility for bidding, closing rules for auction, exit clause , auction rules and design. There was no clarity from the DoT representatives. They will get back to us in a week's time," said a senior official of a leading telecom company.

An official representing Telenor said that the design of the 2G auction is such that it would invite trouble for bidders.

It has asked DoT to work on the closing rules according to best international practices carried out in various countries after the 3G auction held in May 2010.

The DoT has assured them that it would look into the matter.

"Times Internet, which is the auctioneer, does have good experience of auctioning in India but not at the international level. If they put in best international practices, which have been carried out for closing rules of auction, this will help the participants to fully optimise bidding for every telecom circle and generate more revenue for the government as well," said an industry official.

Meanwhile, telecom minister Kapil Sibal denied that there is any policy paralysis in the government.

"We have taken decisions after decisions. If there is paralysis, it is the rollout of those decisions and it depends on the private sector. The private sector must see the opportunity and ensure there is rollout," he said at the curtain-raiser event for India Telecom 2012 Conference.

Courtesy: Mail Today