New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the next round of spectrum auction, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Wednesday.
The minister said that the cabinet has approved relief for sugarcane farmers, improvement in electricity infrastructure in North Eastern states and the auction of spectrum.
The Digital Communications Commission, the apex decision making body of the Department of Telecom, in May approved the spectrum auction plan subject to the cabinet approval.
Cabinet okays Rs 3,500 cr sugar export subsidy
The government approved a subsidy of Rs 3,500 crore to sugar mills for the export of 60 lakh tonnes of sweetener during the ongoing marketing year 2020-21 as part of its efforts to help them clear outstanding dues to sugarcane farmers.
Javadekar said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a subsidy of Rs 3,500 crore on exports of 60 lakh tonnes of sweetener and the subsidy amount will directly be given to farmers.
The minister said both "sugar industry as well as sugarcane farmers are in crisis" because of high domestic production at 310 lakh tonnes as against the annual demand of 260 lakh tonnes.
The decision will benefit 5 crore farmers, said Javadekar, who is also Union Environment Minister.
In the previous marketing year 2019-20 (October-September), the government provided a lump sum export subsidy of Rs 10,448 per tonne, costing the exchequer Rs 6,268 crore.
Mills exported 5.7 million tonnes of sugar against the mandatory quota of 6 million tonnes set for the 2019-20 season (October-September), according to official data.
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Cabinet approves next round of spectrum auction
The Union Cabinet approved the next round of spectrum auction to be held in March in which frequencies of 2,251 megahertz would be sold, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
The government will not put on sale spectrum frequencies that have been identified for 5G services.
The government will put on auction 2,251 MHz of spectrum in the frequency bands of 700 MHz, 800Mhz, 900 Mhz, 2100 Mhz, 2300 Mhz and 2500 MHz, Prasad said.
"The notice inviting application shall be issued in this month and by auction will be conducted by March," Prasad said.
The Digital Communications Commission, the apex decision making body of the Department of Telecom, in May had approved the spectrum auction plan worth Rs 5.22 lakh crore which included radiowaves for 5G services as well.
According to Reliance Jio, spectrum worth Rs 3.92 lakh crore is lying unused with the DoT for auction.
The telecom ministry gets an average revenue share of around 5 per cent as spectrum usage charge from telecom operators which is calculated based on their spectrum holding of companies and 8 per cent as licence fee from the revenue earned by the companies from sale of communication services.
(PTI Report)
