EGoM decides to adjust fee paid by Uninor

In A bid to woo foreign investors, empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by finance minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday allowed Norwegian telecom firm Telenor's Indian arm to adjust Rs 1,658 crore licence fee it had paid in 2008 against the final price it has to pay for buying spectrum.

The EGoM however did not take any decision on spectrum auction as it decided to first conduct the auction of 800 MHz spectrum on March 11 and thereafter assess the situation.

"EGoM has decided that after the auction is conducted on March 11 we will then assess the situation and then go back to the Supreme Court for further action," telecom minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after the EGoM meeting.

The EGoM was to take a decision on the third round of spectrum auction, which has to be conducted to comply with the Supreme Court order of February 15, 2013. In the order, the apex court had directed government to put entire spectrum for auction that was freed from cancellation of 122 2G licences.

The government had put on sale 271.25 Mhz of spectrum in November 2012 even as 473.6 Mhz of spectrum, including 60 Mhz of CDMA spectrum, was freed after the Supreme Court order in February last year cancelled 122 licences. The CDMA spectrum auction, however, was in compliant with the apex court order.

Courtesy: Mail Today