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Ravi Shankar Prasad says with spectrum issues out of the way, auction will happen in two to three months.
India’s much-discussed upcoming spectrum auction will likely get underway in late July at the earliest judging by comments made by the country’s communications minister this week.
"Issues regarding spectrum have been addressed," the government having cleared spectrum trading and sharing, Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a speech at the Telecom India event in New Delhi on Friday, according to a report in the Economic Times.
"In the coming two to three months, 2,000 MHz of spectrum will be auctioned," Prasad said, according to the paper.
That suggests a timeframe of late July to late August, which is later than the industry was expecting at the start of the year, when a May-June auction seemed likely. However, it is in line with recent reports on the subject; last month, the Economic Times reported that 2.1-GHz spectrum held by the Ministry of Defence could be put up for auction in July if it can be freed up in time, for example.
According to the newspaper, the Indian government could expect to raise 5.6 trillion rupees (€74 billion) from the sale of spectrum in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands.
