Communication and IT Minister A Raja had recently said that additional players might be allowed to participate in 3G spectrum auction, and additional players might not necessarily be foreign players.

Earlier, finance ministry had suggested ‘International Competitive Bidding’ for realizing optimum revenue from auction of spectrum. The draft guidelines, by allowing even those companies not having licences to participate in the bids, are in line with finance ministry’s recommendations that include both foreign and additional domestic players. “All entities who fulfill the criteria for obtaining a UAS licence can bid for 3G spectrum,” the draft guidelines said.

DoT is likely to announce the final guidelines soon. The auction process may begin in a month after.

The disconnect

•TRAI and DoT have differing views on the 3G policy.

•TRAI wants only those firms that already have licences to participate in the bidding

•It thinks existing players already have infrastructure that would reduce costs

•DoT wants even those which do not have licences to bid

•It thinks this would encourage competition, and fetch more revenue from auction