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Upcoming auction will include airwaves worth a total of 5.66 trillion rupees, based on reserve prices, according to local press report.
India’s defence ministry will vacate spectrum worth 300 billion rupees (€4 billion) in time for this summer’s auction, it emerged on Tuesday.
The ministry has worked out a spectrum swap with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that will make 15 MHz of 2.1-GHz frequencies and 201 MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum available for the auction, the Economic Times reported, citing an "official source" quoted by the Press Trust of India.
The INR300 billion valuation is based on the auction base price, the source said.
As a result, India will auction off spectrum across various bands worth a total of INR5.66 trillion (€76 billion), the paper said.
The sale is due to take place on an as yet unspecified date during the summer months.
The Economic Times still expects it to happen in July, but there were indications from India’s communications minister recently that it could be later.
Ravi Shankar Prasad told an industry event that spectrum sharing and trading issues have been worked out, leaving the way clear for the auction to occur "in the coming two to three months." That suggests a timeframe of late July to late August.
According to the paper, India’s Telecom Commission is set to meet on 7 June to discuss further details of the auction.
