International Law

A few updates on 3 G spectrum Auction

By Saptak Sanyal

On 25^th February the Department of telecom (DoT) issued the notice inviting applications (NIA) for bids on third-generation (3G) spectrum and the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA, which will be auctioned on April 9 . The Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) or Wimax spectrum auction would start two days after the close of 3G auctions.  To read more click here.

The government did not receive any applications from private telecom players to participate in the 3G and BWA auction on the first and the second after it opened doors for bids.  Despite the concerns the government officials remained optimistic to receive an appropriate response from the industry as most of the bidders tend to put in their bids on the last day. The bidders had to submit their applications between March 15 and March 19.

Airtel submits bid for 3G spectrum on 18^th being the first one in major telecom companies. To read more click here.

The DoT dismissed the complaint from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which had warned that the third generation (3G) spectrum auction policy was ?biased? towards incumbent Indian telecoms firms and existing mobile licence holders. Since it created barriers for foreign players to enter into the market. But DoT refuted this claim?.to read more click here.

Delhi High Court decline to stay 3 G auction process. There was a petition filed by a someone called Umesh Jhoshi alleging that sufficient time was not given for submitting application. But the court while refusing to accept his plea..click here

Nine companies have filed application for 3 G auction while 11 companies for BWA. While Augere Mauritius is the only foreign company to have submitted its application for broadband. While Telenor’s Indian unit Uninor, which had earlier expressed its interest to bid for select 3G circles, confirmed not to bid now as it was yet to receive the 2G spectrum it had paid for. To read more click here..

It can observed from the facts, that despite repeated pleas from various stakeholders the policy framework has remained biased towards the incumbent players and it deterred the foreign players from participating.

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Full post as published by India Law & Tech on March 21, 2010 (boomark / email).