‘Auction route for spectrum to continue, admin allocation in limited cases’

The government will continue to auction telecom spectrum, and the administrative allocation route will be used sparingly, only in those cases where it is technically not feasible to do so or for areas that are strategic in nature, sources said.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) is gearing up to hold the next round of spectrum auction on June 6 for eight spectrum bands (800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz, 2,300 MHz, 2,500 MHz, 3,300 MHz, and 26 GHz) meant for mobile phone services at a base price of about Rs 96,317 crore.

The spectrum will be assigned for 20 years and successful bidders will be allowed to make payments in 20 equal annual instalments in the coming mega auction.