On 25 February, the Department of Telecommunications issued the formal Notice Inviting Applications to bid for spectrum for the deployment of mobile services in India. DotEcon, together with NM Rothschild and Sons, has advised the Government on the design and implementation of these award processes.
According to the Notice, the Government will commence the auction of three to four 2x5MHz lots of 3G spectrum in each of India’s 22 telecom services areas simultaneously on 9 April 2010. The auction of two 20MHz blocks of BWA spectrum (2.3GHz) in all service areas will commence in a separate process two days after the completion of the 3G auction. The Notice Inviting Applications, including details of the auction rules, can be downloaded here. A set of queries and responses is available here.
Government owned operators MTNL and BSNL will not take part in the auctions; they have been reserved 3G and BWA spectrum in their respective operating areas, and will pay the price for this spectrum established in the auctions.