New Delhi:The Digital Communications Commission, the apex decision-making body at the telecom department, on Friday approved a Rs 5.22 lakh crore spectrum auction plan entailing 8300 MHz of airwaves across 22 circles and the sale is likely to take place in March-April.
"The DCC has today approved the recommendation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). We are hopeful that auction shall be conducted in March-April," Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash told reporters here.
He said the auction will entail the sale of over 8300 MHz of the spectrum spread over all 22 telecom circles, the reserve price of which comes to Rs 5,22,850 crore.
TRAI had initially given recommendation for radiowaves valued at Rs 4.9 lakh crore. However, the telecom department has also included additional spectrum for the auction which will be free from the expiration of licences of Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel in 8 circles and Vodafone and Idea Cellular in 4 circles each.
Successful bidders will have to pay 25 per cent of the amount upfront for sub 1 GHz, and 50 per cent upfront for higher frequency bands.