India will not give away airwaves along with the license to operate mobile-phone services under a new policy: Sibal
NEW DELHI: Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal said, India will not give away airwaves along with the license to operate mobile-phone services under a new policy.
Today in New Delhi Sibal told reporters, telephone airwaves will be sold at market rates and the regulator will suggest ways to calculate the price. Mobile-phone companies, including existing operators such as Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Vodafone Essar Ltd. that hold more than 6.2 megahertz of spectrum will have to pay the “market rate,” he added.
Sibal said today, An auction process to allocate and price airwaves is being considered.
Last month a scandal involving the sale of airwave licenses led to a corruption probe, the resignation of Sibal’s predecessor and stalled parliamentary proceedings. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in a November report that the government lost potential revenue after the airwaves were sold at lower-than-market rates.
The auditor said, the Indian government received 123.9 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) selling companies wireless spectrum that were worth as much as 1.5 trillion rupees. The Comptroller’s calculation was based on the price of spectrum for so-called third-generation services auctioned in May.
(News Editor- Naushin Fatima Khan)
